


The Effects of Wishes

by AbyssUnknown



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Actually wish gone right in a way, Earth Magic, F/M, Ginny I’m sorry for any potential heartbreak girl, Harry is essentially adopted, How is 'Ronald' Weasley not a tag?? That's his full name, I’m biased to Harry Potter, Lady Magic - Freeform, M/M, Magical Inheritance, Multi, No Beta, Sane Voldemort (Harry Potter), Well he is going to be sane, Where’s my Harry Protection Squad?, Wish Gone Wrong, and animals, and creatures - Freeform, by plants, cuz why not, especially mother nature, honestly someone needs to protect Harry, i can’t help having a soft spot for Harry, no actually don’t pls, not what Harry meant but, protect Harry Potter pls, so enter Mother Nature, sue me, warning: no messing with mothers, well that’s the effects of wishes kiddos
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:21:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 71,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27432688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbyssUnknown/pseuds/AbyssUnknown
Summary: Wishes are funny things. Chaotic too. Sadly, Harry doesn't know that. Heck, he still hasn't realised it was a wish that was causing his world to turn upside down - and green.Note: This story diverts from OOTP canon and some characters may seem OOC...
Relationships: Harry Potter/Fred Weasley, Harry Potter/Fred Weasley/George Weasley, Harry Potter/George Weasley, Sirius Black & Harry Potter, godfather-godson - Relationship
Comments: 57
Kudos: 287





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point, I feel some of my reaaders are going to be like, "Fam please complete ur other fanfictions too"
> 
> I will. One day. I promise. 
> 
> But this day ain't it...  
> Don't kill me. I just have too many ideas in my head... (・・；)

Wishes are funny things.

Sometimes they are a reflection of one's heart's desire, other times they are simply a reaction from a particularly strong emotion one was feeling. And be the feeling anger, jealousy or some other irrational emotion, those types of wishes are never truly what the wisher intends for deep down in their hearts.

But most importantly, wishes are often harmless.

That is, until they get granted. Then, well then, harmless would be quite an antonym for what wishes stand for.

You see, the thing about wishes is that they are often (read all the time) never specific. People tend to be blind about details when dreaming about the bigger picture that – unless somebody reminded them of it – they forgot that being crystal clear is a vital requirement to getting what you wish for.

Hence, when wishes are usually granted, chaos often followed. The results are even more hilarious too, when sometimes recipients simply do not know _what in the world_ happened to them, when in truth, it was usually their own wishes that are the cause of their predicament.

And Harry Potter – the soon to be fifteen-years-old wizard – was about to be painfully enduring such a truth in his life.

The story starts really in the summer after the young wizard's fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft.

The teen was having a miserable summer, just like all his other summers where he was forced into the hated company of his muggle relatives. But this particular summer was simply more despairing than others.

First, there was the fact that Harry was troubled and greatly depressed. He had had a particularly terrifying school year, where he had been forced into a deadly magical tournament. If that fact alone had not brought the young man distress with the sheer chaos it had caused – what with half the school population (including his best friend Ron Weasley and even some Professors) initially hating and doubting him – then the way the tournament ended had surely achieved it. For its end had brought the resurrection of Lord Voldemort, a dangerous and evil wizard bent on killing him. But that had not been the worse bit.

The tournament had ended with a death.

Cedric Diggory's death.

Harry still fumed at the injustice of it all when thinking about it, which unfortunately he did a lot.

Cedric had not deserved to die. All the poor wizard had done was be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Harry knew. For he had been the one, he remembered guiltily, that had encouraged the seventh-year Hufflepuff to take the tournament cup with him to have a tie in the winning. And that had been the reason why Cedric had met such an early death.

_Kill the spare_

For the loyal Hufflepuff had simply been a spare in the evil schemes of an insane and dark wizard.

Harry wiped his eyes dry, not letting tears fall. He did not want to cry. Yet. He was still outside after all. It would not do to show his vulnerability where others may witness it. He had no idea how they would react. Nowadays he did not know who to trust.

And that brings us to the second reason why Harry found this particular summer more depressing than others. Even the one before his second-year school year where he thought he had no friends.

He did not know who to trust.

Once upon a time (read before this particular summer), he would have confidently named those he trusted in a heartbeat.

Hermione, Ron, Sirius, the rest of the Weasleys (to quite some extent) and Dumbledore.

But now, now Harry Potter just felt abandoned and alone.

Because so far into the summer, his supposed friends and trusted people had not bothered to write him a letter worth reading. All he had been sent were small notes disguised as letters for what was written within them were so little, he could write it all out in one paper and still have plenty of space left to fill.

And all of them were saying the same thing anyways. (Which was pretty much nothing.) Apparently, Dumbledore ordered that it was unsafe for owls to be delivering letters to him since they could be intercepted by Voldemort or his lackeys. And Harry was advised to remain with his relatives – where he was supposedly "safe" – until such a time they could safely come collect him. Like a post item.

Harry had begged for the first two weeks. Begged really. Asking them to tell him what was going on or at least take him away from the Dursleys. He didn't understand how the Dursleys were safe at all. And he really _needed_ someone to talk to. Someone who would simply be there and not look at him with derision as though he was the Devil's incarnate himself or just ignore him. Normally Harry would have found the Dursley's ignorance a blessing. In fact, he still did. But the hatred and disdain. He would admit he was not in the best position to ignore it currently. Not after witnessing Cedric's death. A death he felt partially responsible for what with his act of nobility at asking the wizard to take the cup with him.

The guilt was eating at him and Harry really wished he had someone to talk to – physically. It was not even about talking per say. But rather he needed a grounding presence for Harry really did not like the loneliness that was eating him up.

But nobody had cared. The letters had not changed, nor did anyone appear to rescue him from his relatives' house, where his summer was only increasingly becoming more suffocating and depressing.

So, Harry remained in the dark – like always – instead of being told anything of value. Which he – for surprisingly one of the rare times in his life – felt entitled to. Because, Harry knew by now, that when it came to Voldemort, his fate was somehow, mysteriously always interconnected with the evil man's. And considering all that has happened to him so far, he felt it the least the people who knew him could be doing was telling him important matters so that he would not fall for Voldemort's traps any more.

If people had bothered to tell him that the cup had been a portkey, if Dumbledore had cared to share with him that he had _suspected_ that the Harry's name being in the tournament was a trap, if –

Harry sighed, stopping his vicious what ifs before they became too much again. He supposed it all didn't matter in the end. He had long given up replies or sending anyone letters when it became obvious nobody was really listening to what he had to say in those plea-filled papers.

The teen sighed and returned to the work he was doing, trying to redirect his thoughts elsewhere.

He had truthfully finished the little work he had been assigned by his aunt by five in the evening. But as his luck would have it, Dudley had passed by home with his gang of no goods. And had proceeded to destroy Harry's hard work thoroughly like the nasty, overgrown bully that the boy was.

Harry had seen red then. He had spent quite some time ever since he came back from school to have restored the garden back to a healthy state (Petunia was not fond of doing work in his absence much) and that overgrown whale and his friends had messed it up in a matter of minutes.

He had almost hexed the gang of bullies then and there, Statute of Secrecy be damned. Unfortunately for him, Dudley possessed some semblance of self-preservation it seemed and had registered that the darkening gaze of his cousin was probably not good for his existence. So the prat had immediately herded his pathetic friends and left, after doing considerable damage to the garden sadly.

In short, Harry had earned a "no-dinner-for-you" from Petunia after being unfairly blamed for her damaged garden and was left outside with the order to tidy up the mess before entering the house.

Therefore, he remained outside, toiling away on the garden, tending to the uprooted plants and gently replanting them when possible or replacing them with new seeds. By the time he was done, the Dursleys had all retired for the night and Harry knew without even checking that he had been locked out for the night.

He laid down onto the dirt ground, staring up into the starry sky above. He knew he could easily get back into the house. He had learnt the useful art of lock-picking from the Weasley twins during his second year itself. The skill had been too valuable to lose after the way the twins had rescued him in his twelfth summer. Of course, the Dursleys knew about his new trick as well. Because this had certainly not been the first time, they had locked him out. Surprisingly they had not reacted much to finding him indoors despite being unable to use magic to get inside the house. It seemed they really were only doing it for some petty pleasure at seeing Harry stuck outside for at least some time.

Or they simply didn't care where he ended up in the night.

Harry wouldn't be surprised if it were a mix of both.

Still, secure with the knowledge that he could get back inside, Harry found he did not mind his current predicament.

For one, it was peaceful. The most peaceful night he was having so far in the summer. Despite being a pain and unfairly long sometimes, the chores Petunia assigned mercifully managed to distract him now and then from his brooding mind. And sometimes they left him so exhausted that he had a few hours of reprieve from his nightmares and fears as his mind would be too tired to conjure up dreams.

And most importantly, they distracted him from the anger.

It was an emotion that Harry often found himself with this summer, he had noted. Sometimes, he was not even sure why he was angry. The emotion lingered and simmered about silently inside him, sometimes muted while other times intense.

But he could always feel it there.

The frustration. The agitation. The irrational need to lash out suddenly on something - or _someone_.

It scared him slightly but he supposed with what he went through over the last year, he supposed it was simply a natural reaction on his part. He wanted it to stop though. To find some sort of closure to the conflicts within his mind. And he certainly wanted to stop feeling so utterly useless and angry.

It was another reason why he wanted out from the Dursleys and the isolation he was facing. He desperately wanted to have something positive to cling to. Some reason to feel happy.

But as the days flew by, the despondency he felt simply grew.

Harry sighed again, tearing his gaze from the stars to roll over to lie on his stomach, uncaring of the dirt he was getting on his clothes. He took in the greenery surrounding him from all sides, relaxing at the way the plants and flowers danced slightly whenever a gentle breeze picked up in the night air. Some of them were shrouded by the night's shadows but he could still see most of them under the light of the street lamps decorating the pavement.

Harry sighed again.

"Wouldn't it be nice if I could simply be with you guys all the time, hmm? Just planting and tending to you lot. And enjoying the quiet," he murmured into the silent garden around him, knowing he wouldn't get a reply. But he didn't care. It had been a habit after for him since childhood to talk aimlessly with plants in a one-sided conversation. It had helped kept the loneliness at bay somewhat despite the lack of response. "You guys are certainly much better company than most of the people I know."

It was true. Plants and creatures, Harry realized, were probably the only living things that probably didn't mind him and his existence. In fact, barring the time with the basilisk and the dragon (and Harry really didn't count them considering the circumstances), most of his time spent with creatures and plants were usually one of his most peaceful or joyful times.

"Ah well," Harry muttered aloud as he slowly got up, gathering his gardening tools so that he could retire for the night. "I guess it would be an impossible dream wouldn't it?"

People certainly would never leave him alone to do _that_ most certainly. The Boy-Who-Lived-to-Garden certainly wouldn't sound exciting.

"Unless you added magical plants into the mix," Harry thought. He paused. "Well, that isn't a bad idea actually. Magical plants do have cool abilities."

The teen stared at the bags of seeds and the dirty tools he gathered absently. He didn't feel like walking to the shed, he noted absently. Funnily enough he was quite exhausted from saving the garden from absolute ruin. Shrugging lightly to himself, Harry decided he would just carry the things to his room. It was not like the Dursleys would miss the tools or need them anyway, considering they never did any of the work.

He spared a last glance to the garden he had tidied up.

"Still I wish I could simply spend most of my time in your company," Harry murmured again. "For all I know, it'd probably keep me sane with how peaceful you plants are."

The teen made his way back to the Dursleys home, lugging the garden materials in his wake, deftly picking his way into the house and up into his room. He was unaware of the slight humming of magic that picked up in the night outside or the shooting star that shot across the sky as he had left the garden of No. 4 Privet Drive. Instead, Harry Potter slept – for the first time that summer – deeply and peacefully, without having any dream or nightmare plague his mind.

Sadly, for him, the peace wouldn't last.

* * *

Harry blinked. Rubbed his eyes, looked around and blinked again.

All he saw were green.

Nervous and very much panicking, he let his hand search out for his spectacles near his bed-stand, only to whirl around in shock as his hand was tickled. He stared once more as he came face to face with a thick, curling vine.

A thick, curling vine that seemed to be offering his glasses to him.

With a shaky hand, the teen wizard took what was offered, giving a nervous bob of his to thank the seemingly alive plant. Politeness never killed, right?

A sense of laughter washed over him. It had a wispy quality to it.

Harry jumped.

"Who was that?"

A tickling sensation went up his arm, putting the already nervous boy more on edge.

"You?" he asked the vine that was trying to crawl around him.

This time the sensation of agreement washed over him was more prominent and Harry faintly thought he heard some soft whistling of the wind accompany it.

He stared at his room again, taking in the jungle – for there was no other word to describe it – that it had become. All that was missing from the scene were simply animals.

Harry gulped.

"The Dursleys are going to _kill_ me."

* * *

"Mum, come on!"

"The orders were clear you two. Stop with the pestering. Harry dear is safe!"

"But Mrs Weasley, please listen –"

"That's enough you lot! Dumbledore knows what he is doing! You – "

"What's going on here? You three planning to wake mother dearest back there?"

A hush fell over the group of redheads and one brunette standing in the middle of the kitchen of the ancestral black home.

"Sirius! Remus! Are you two hungry? I've almost finished lunch. Come and sit at the table," Molly Weasley stated, glad for the new company for it meant she could change the topic of conversation that had been raising her ire.

Unfortunately, teenagers were persistent if anything.

"Harry needs help!"

"What?!"

Molly sighed at the twin cries of worry that left the lips of the two grown men.

"They are exaggerating. Harry sent another letter asking to leave the Dursleys is all."

"No, this is different!"

"Honestly stop –"

"Alright, CALM DOWN!" Remus Lupin interjected, ever the voice of reason. "Look, how about we let each party say what they want first."

"Starting with you kids," Sirius took over, concern written all over his face. "Why does Harry need help?"

Molly huffed and resumed her work in the kitchen, deeming she might as well multi-task if she were to listen to the story again.

"Harry sent us a letter, Sirius," Hermione answered, waving her wand arm that was clutching a slightly crumpled letter wildly. "He sounds really scared. The letter isn't even coherent. It's short and he asked for help in the end."

The bushy-haired witch shoved the letter into the hands of the two grown-ups. "We think he really is in trouble. Someone should go get him."

Sirius and Remus silently bent over the letter, taking in the frantic writing and slight fear that seemed to roll off the words etched in the paper.

_Guys,_

_I - I don't know how but something's happened and-_

_And oh it's all such a mess! A big, green mess! I think – I'm lost. I'm pretty sure this isn't normal. Even by wizarding standards. I didn't do anything I – I really didn't! I - I don't know_

_I'm scared. The Dursleys are going to freak out_

_No, the Dursleys are going to **kill** me –_

_Help! Please, just send help. I really need it! Please! I don't know what's going on!_

_-HJP_

Their frowns deepened.

"I can see why you're worried."

"Honestly, Harry is safe. You heard what Dumbledore said. He probably just got into some small trouble and is worried about his relatives' reactions. Teenage boys go through it all the time. Besides, the guards watching over will step in if Harry is in danger!" Molly tried to assure everyone.

"But they won't know –"

" – what happens in the house, – "

"– do they?"

The twins voice were solemn, their faces uncharacteristically grim.

Sirius' eyes narrowed. "What do you mean by that?"

"The Dursleys don't like Harry much," Hermione muttered sadly as a way of explanation.

Ron snorted at that. "Don't like? They hate him! When me and the twins – "

" – the twins and I, Ron," Hermione interjected reluctantly.

Ron continued on as though he hadn't heard her.

" – rescued Harry before second year, they had him locked up in his room! And they put bars on his window! Bars! Plus they were feeding him through this," Ron frowned, trying to remember what the word had been. "Catflap! That's it. A catflap through the door which had its own locks and bars. And the food they gave was not even food. Some water or soup that certainly would not fill a baby's stomach. Heck, they didn't even let him out that room!"

The twins nodded in affirmation at the story.

"We had to help collect Harry's things from a cupboard-under-the-stairs too. And – " Fred grimaced, looking to his twin for help. But for the first time, George didn't – couldn't – help his twin out, facing the same hesitation he knew the other was feeling.

"And what?" Sirius' voice was calm and collected but there was an underlying emotion that none of the others in the room could grasp accompanying it. And it sent shivers down all their spine.

"Well, Harry made us promise to never mention it again but – "

" – But this is a serious circumstance. Well, the day we rescued Harry and entered that cupboard – "

" – We saw all the tell-tale signs that somebody had once lived inside it – "

" – There was an old mattress, pillows and one or two old, broken toys. But most importantly, there was a child's writing on a piece of paper – "

" - stuck to the back of the cupboard door. We almost missed it but it said "Harry's room" on it. It was quite old, judging from its state."

Gasps were heard around the room.

"Are you serious?" the voice of Ron Weasley cut through the tense silence that filled the atmosphere. Nobody missed the wavering in the teen's voice but nobody had the heart to tease him about it.

The twins nodded grimly.

"No. Dumbledore wouldn't leave Harry –" Molly's voice was agitated. Unsure on what to do, the distressed woman fell back on her old habits. Her gaze sharpened on her twins. "Really you two, this is no matter to joke about –"

"Are you admitting to raising liars, Molly Weasley?" The voice of a strangely calm Sirius Black cut through the air again.

Molly whirled to look at the man, an indignant reprimand on her lips. But she never got the chance to voice it.

"Judging by your face, I guess not. Then stop insinuating that they are lying, woman. You and I both know they are not that foolish, even for kids."

Molly looked away, unable to meet the fierce intensity in the escaped convict's eyes.

"Please Mrs Weasley, believe them. What do any of us have to gain by lying about this?" Hermione reasoned. "There is nothing funny about it for the twins and Ron and I don't have any reason to lie about this either. Please believe us. Harry needs help. He _never_ asks for help but here in this letter, he's screaming for it!"

Ron nodded, agreeing with his best friend. "Please mum, you always say Harry looks skin and bones whenever he comes over. Did you think that there was no reason? Even Ginny looks less skinny than him and is almost his height!"

"But, Dumbledore said Harry's safe," Molly protested reluctantly.

"Well Dumbledore is wrong!" Ron snapped at his mother, surprising everyone in the room. "If he had bothered checking in on Harry all these years, then he would have realized it himself! Whatever the Dursleys may be, they are not good for Harry! How long are you going to stand here wasting time, Mum? I know its not the best thing to admit but the truth remains that Harry is _abused_! And Harry could be dead by now for all we know! He almost was last time we went to rescue him! Are you going to wait till then this time round?"

"RONALD WEASLEY! Don't take that tone – "

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT HERE WOMAN!" Ron shouted, his face turning red as his temper finally got the better of him. "MY BEST FRIEND COULD BE DYING FOR MERLIN'S SAKE AS YOU SIMPLY WASTE TIME HERE!"

The silence in the kitchen was deafening. Until –

"You are right, of course."

Several pair of eyes swiveled to look at Sirius Black. The ex-convict had a dark look in his eyes.

"My godson clearly needs help and he won't be getting it if we stay here now, will he?"

"Sirius, what are you –"

"I'm going to take my godson away from the abusive house he has been abandoned in," the gaunt looking man stated, looking at the red-headed woman straight in the eyes. "And you are not going to stop me."

"Sirius, Harry is safe where – "

"Have you ever been starved by your guardians, Molly Weasley?"

The woman stiffened at the cold tone in the emotionless man's voice. She shook her head silently. "No but –"

"Have you felt the betrayal of having the person meant to love and care for you raise their arm to hurt you instead? Or felt the sting of sharp, cutting words that degrade and insult your existence when all the wrong you have supposedly ever done was simply being born?"

Molly shook her head, eyes suspiciously starting to glisten.

"Perhaps you've experienced then, the sheer fear of wondering if today will be your last day as you wait for the regular dose of beatings that you know will leave you broken to the point that you can't breathe?"

Molly shook her head again.

"Then, Molly Weasley. Take it from someone who's experienced all that at the hand of one's own parents," Sirius ignored the gasps that came from his audience, focusing to burn his gaze into the woman before him, "I would know real abuse when I hear it and my godson is clearly the victim of one. I don't care if Merlin himself told you Harry is safe. I am not letting my godson remain in the presence of abusers any longer, if I can help it."

And with that, Sirius Black stormed off, lunch forgotten as he clutched on to the crumpled letter in his hand.

"Remus, surely you must understand – ," Molly looked at the silent man beseechingly, hoping to get some support.

"Dumbledore is not all-knowing, Molly," was the man's reply. Strangely the man seemed to choke on his own words, as though unable to believe it himself.

The man looked up at the mother of seven before him, confusion and despair shining in his eyes.

"Dumbledore is not all-knowing," he repeated, this time sounding surer. But his eyes seemed betray the pain he felt in admitting the truth. "I know what your feeling Molly. I feel it too. I don't want to believe it but– but denying the truth is not going to get us anywhere. We've failed Harry," the man whispered brokenly.

Molly Weasley stared at the man in silence before her restraints crumpled and she started sobbing.

"Oh, I didn't want to believe it," the Weasley matriarch heaved between her tears, her voice muffled beneath her hands that were hiding her face. The hysterical woman flung her arms around the person that stood nearest to her – which happened to be Hermione - trying to seek comfort as she finally let herself confront the reality. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, children. I'm so sorry! I've failed him!"

Hermione wrapped her arms around the woman, letting the older lady cry out her guilt.

"We all did, Mrs Weasley. Even us. We haven't really wrote anything worth reading to Harry on Dumbledore's orders." Hermione grimaced. "He probably feels more abandoned than ever."

Brown eyes swept around the room, catching the gaze of the rest of her friends.

"We as good as abandoned him too, didn't we?"

The remaining redheads hung their heads in shame.

Hermione turned back to the elder Weasley as she felt the woman extract herself from the young witch's embrace.

"I apologize Hermione dear. I go– got emotional. I – I'm not doing anyone any good am, I?" Molly tried to wipe her face despite the fact that her tears kept coming. But she had a glint of determination in her eyes.

"You – " the matriarch turned her attention Remus. "Go after him."

Remus frowned. "I won't be able to make him come back , Molly."

"Who said anything about making him come back?" Molly snapped defiantly.

Remus looked at her in confusion.

"Go and have his back, you idiot. No matter his good intentions, he is still a wanted man. Go make sure he comes back with Harry safe."

Comprehension dawned on the shabby man's face.

"Oh shit. You're right! I forgot – what with all this – oh Merlin!"

Remus ran out of the room.

Molly turned away from the exiting man, turning to stare at her kids.

"Well, then. I suppose now we just wait."

She looked at each of the four in the eye. "Thank you. All of you. For not hiding this matter any longer. And for not giving up on it either." She gave a teary smile at the twins who were shifting guilty, no doubt cursing over never revealing what they knew earlier. "Don't fret over what ifs now. At least we bothered to confront it finally. If anyone should be blamed, it should be me. I should not have remained so willingly blind to Harry's situation, especially after you three had rescued him. For what it's worth, I'm sorry. For failing all of you in this matter."

Hermione patted the woman on her back. "We all failed somewhat, Mrs Weasley," the witch repeated sadly.

"Do you think Sirius will be fine, mum?" George asked from beside his twin.

Molly shrugged.

"I hope so. I do believe however, considering Harry's safety is on the line, the man may surprise us all with the caution and discreetness he may employ."

"And – and did you know?" Fred asked, voice laced with pain and sadness. "About Sirius having been through - ?"

Molly shook her head.

"It seems none of us knew much about the man that stormed out of here despite living with him," Molly replied, uncharacteristically soft. "I'll admit I had several misconceptions about him myself, due to rumors." The guilt was evident in the older woman's eyes.

She gave a sigh.

"I think we should wait now, children. That's all we can do for now."

Four heads nodded reluctantly at the suggestion, knowing they indeed could not do much as of then.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I think by now, you must realise, I wasn't kidding when I said nature was going to protect Harry.  
> I legit just took our Harrykins and dumped him upon Mother Nature for some love and security.  
> Can you blame me?  
> Honestly I just wanted a fic where Harry and nature went along well fam. Is is too bad that I went ahead and indulged myself?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know your thoughts on this chapter folks.  
> After you read it ofc!

* * *

The atmosphere in the ancestral house of Black had never been gloomier. The mix of adults and teenagers settled about the kitchen were all quiet. All except one very much afraid to break the tense and screaming silence that was adding to the suffocating environment.

But many pairs of eyes were frequently darting towards the figure seated at the head of the table, who was staring desolately at a crumpled note, a holly wand and a photo album.

"Sirius," the brave soul who had spoken up was none other than Remus Lupin, who despite sounding strong looked equally as despondent as his best friend. "We'll find him."

The gaunt man did not reply, if he heard. Instead he continued his silent staring, his gaze so fierce it seemed as if he were willing the possessions to somehow bring his lost godson to him.

The rest exchanged uneasy glances around the unresponsive man, unsure of how to help him.

"Sirius," Remus tried again. "Come on, we will find him. Even if it's the last thing we do. But sitting here depressed won't make that happen."

"We scoured the entire neighborhood, Remus." The hollow voice did nothing to hide the pain in the man's eyes. "We couldn't find him. His scent vanished in the front lawn. He could have apparated through accidental magic for all we know. If the blood trailing from his room to the doorway was any indication, he is badly hurt and could very well be splinched and may be bleeding to death somewhere as we speak."

Sharps gasps echoed around the room.

"Please tell me he is exaggerating," Molly interrupted, eyes searching Remus' face desperately for some reassurance. The werewolf turned away, unable to give false hope.

Molly collapsed against the kitchen counter, shocked. Ron, who stood near, stepped over to provide his mother with support, though his trembling frame betrayed his own agony at the news.

"No," Hermione's voice rasped out, resolute yet crumbling. "I refuse to believe it. You _must_ have missed something. What happened in there? Tell us everything instead of bit and pieces, will you?!"

Remus gave a summary of their findings when it became apparent that Sirius was not going to speak. His explanations did nothing for the mood in the room, though it very effectively raised the others' anger.

"What do you mean there was no guard present? I thought you said the Order members had everything covered?" Fred Weasley snapped, abandoning twin speech in his ire.

"We don't know who was supposed to have been at the shift," Remus explained. "But when we went there, there was no one guarding the place. I doubt they left when Harry disappeared since the first place they would have gone to would be Arabella Figg's house to either floo Dumbledore at Hogwarts or alert an Order member at Grimmauld. But Arabella had no one visit her today and nobody apparated here either from what we know."

The four teens in the room scowled.

"Well what about the plants you mentioned? What was that about?"

"We don't know. But we do know that was the trigger for the Dursleys attacking Harry today. According to them Harry had set the plants to attack their son."

Ron scowled. "Not bloody likely. Harry was probably only defending himself from the whale. No matter how much he hates them, he wouldn't attack them first."

Hermione nodded in agreement. "Besides, Harry couldn't have conjured the plants. He would have received a letter of expulsion from the Ministry the moment he performed any magic while in Surrey. And the way you describe the plants, they sound _alive_. I mean more _alive_ than normal plants. We've never learnt to conjure or create anything like that in Hogwarts."

Remus nodded. "I agree. The plants are a whole issue by themselves to be honest but the pressing matter right now is Harry. He obviously ran away when he was attacked to protect himself and managed to escape with no means to detect him. But it's still dangerous for him to remain out there all by himself, what with Voldemort's resurrection. We have to find him fast and soon."

"But how the heck are we going to do that?" George asked. "We have no means to locate him."

Remus gave a sigh. "I know. That's why I was going to suggest calling an Order meeting so that we could find a solution. We're going to need –"

"No." Sirius's voice cut off the man midway.

Remus sighed. "Sirius –"

"We are not alerting those idiots to anything. Their incompetence is the very reason my godson is missing! And an Order meeting means Dumbledore. Unless you wish to watch me _kill_ the old man with my bare hands, Remus, I suggest you let him stay far away from me."

"Sirius," Molly interjected softly, "We are going to need help. You are a wanted man and Remus cannot search many places effectively by himself. If we want to find Harry soon we will have to recruit the Order's help. Or would you rather hear the news that the Death Eaters captured Harry?"

The Azkaban escapee grit his teeth.

"Fine. Call a meeting then. But don't blame me if someone in this stupid Order doesn't leave this house alive, tonight. I have a few words to speak to the incompetent swine who dared leave his or her post today. And dear old Albus has much to account for."

He looked up when he felt a hand each on his shoulders.

"We'll be helping you dear," Molly's voice was uncharacteristically dark, sending shivers down the spines of those present (though Fred and George were plainly in awe at their mum's change in demeanor).

Remus gave an affirmative nod too. The man had been conflicted about the whole situation but having Harry missing and seeing the blood stains, cupboard-under-the-stairs and other obvious signs of abuse at the Dursleys' residence had vanished any doubts in him. Between being loyal to his old mentor or being loyal to James' _cub_ , the choice was obvious to the werewolf.

His _cub_ would come first.

"As he always should have," Remus thought guiltily.

"We'll be there too." Hermione shot a defiant glare at Molly, effectively stopping the older woman from any protests. "Harry is our friend. He is as good as family to each of us. And might I remind you if it hadn't been for all of you _adults_ messing up and additionally interfering with our own contact with Harry, we could have realized how bad his situation was much earlier."

A stunned silence followed the normally polite witch's uncharacteristic accusatory rant. Ron, Fred and George in particular seemed particularly awe-struck at the brunette's gumption.

"I'm not saying all the blame lays on you guys. We made our own mistakes when it came to Harry, I know. But stopping us from knowing what's going about Harry has got to stop. We have the right to know about our friend's situation. And we won't doing the mistake of staying out it ever again."

The boys nodded behind Hermione.

"She's right, mum."

Molly, who had very well got over her shock, frowned.

"Oh let them come, Molly," Sirius voice seemed to have an underlying tone of pride in it. "They deserve to know. They've been with Harry far longer than any of us." A sad frown appeared on Sirius's face as he finished.

Molly sighed, knowing she lost as she took in the resolute stances on all four youths present.

"Alright. Alright."

Four triumphant faces had the audacity to smirk back at her. The Weasley matriarch rolled her eyes.

Kids these days were simply rude.

* * *

Harry hugged his knees to his chest, trying to curl into himself, hoping it would help him feel warmer. He was sat upon a protruding boulder he had stumbled across, clothes tattered, lips bleeding and body very much bruised and battered. He tried valiantly to ignore his bleeding right arm, where a deep gash decorated his forearm. He couldn't even remember how that had come about.

The Dursleys had not taken his new companions well at all.

The starting had been optimistic, actually. He had figured out by the time Petunia had woken up, that he had some degree of control over the plants in his room that had mysteriously appeared. He had cajoled and pleaded and they had reluctantly agreed to stay confined in his room and not follow him out – which they had been very eager to do.

And so Harry had managed to keep his relatives from witnessing this new _freakishness_ as they referred to it expertly.

Until Dudley had tried beating Harry up again sometime around the evening. Harry had instinctively escaped into his room by habit, unwilling to run about the neighborhood. There always had been a somewhat silent rule that Harry Hunting would never happen when Harry was confined within his cupboard.

Sadly, Harry had realized reality too late. He no longer had a cupboard that his cousin could not force himself into. He had a bedroom that while small, could still fit his oaf of a cousin in.

And everything went downhill then.

Dudley freaked out when he saw the moving plants and did what he did best when freaked out: Lash out on someone else. That someone else, unsurprisingly, happened to be Harry since he was usually the scapegoat for such scenarios.

Fortunately, and unfortunately, the plants in Harry's room had become strangely violent when Dudley threatened Harry. One moment the stupid teen had been raising his fist to attack and the next moment, Harry watched in horror, a passing vine was dangling the human whale by his ankles (an extraordinary feat for a vine so thin, Harry thought at the back of his mind.)

He was sure Dudley's shriek of terror had been heard by the whole of Surrey.

Vernon who – _surprise surprise_ – had come back from work, had heard the overgrown boy's shout and had bounded up the stairs to save his precious son with a speed Harry had not believed the obese man was capable of. He had taken one glance at the chaos happening and lunged at Harry.

What followed then was the strangest fight Harry had ever fought in his life. There had been fists and leaves flying around everywhere. Harry had tried to simply dodge at first, but when things got dire, he gave back as good as he got in an effort to survive the beatings he was receiving from both father and son (who had freed himself from the grasp of the vine).

However despite the help from the plants, he found himself outnumbered and out-powered ten minutes into the fight. It seemed Dudley and Vernon were extremely effective in violence when in a rage – as they had proved over the years. So, in the end, all Harry had been able to do was flee when he distinctly heard a crack in the air, alerting him that some bone in his already bleeding body had painfully cracked.

Glasses lost, he had been a blind mess scrambling out of the room with his beaten body. He had not been able to grab any of his things with how the situation had unraveled. A small mercy had been when the plants – which had been shielding him to allow him to reach the door – had draped a silvery cloak on his head. He had grabbed the _precious_ heirloom with a relieved cry, donning it immediately to hide himself better from the eyes of anyone else. He had paused a moment then, turning to take in the foliage of fauna shielding him as properly he could in his blind state for once. Vaguely he had seen shapes of objects being passed on through – object he knew were likely to be his few possessions that had once been hidden under the loose floorboard.

His wand. Some textbooks.

His _photo album_.

He had tried to reach for the last item. Vernon, though, had by then almost reached him having broken free from the creepers dragging him back. Harry had been forced to make a split second decision then and there between survival and want.

Fifteen years of surviving Dursleys and escaping Dark Lords had already sorted his priorities for him.

He ducked out through the door, running past a stunned Petunia who had been standing rooted near the doorway, appalled by what she had obviously witnessed. Wrapping the cloak tightly around him and reaching the front garden had been all he remembered before everything had blurred and became brown and suddenly–

He was in the middle of some woods.

Harry coughed in pain as he felt a jab in his chest as he tried to breathe.

He had the sinking feeling in his gut that he may very well die soon, stranded in a forest he did not know of – although if he were to guess he would guess it was the woods near Surrey's edge if his mysterious teleportation had been about simply relocating him to the nearest forest.

He supposed he would never know, considering he had no means to get out or get help.

He winced as another wave of pain washed over him.

"Yep," Harry thought, "Definitely going to die today."

He knew from years of experience that this was the worst beating he had gotten in his life. He doubted even magic could save him now.

But strangely, the young teen found himself not that bothered by the idea about finally meeting death. Sure he was sad that his end was coming early and not to mention guilty at dying early when Voldemort was still out there with and his friends were living in danger. But the idea of death did not seem to depress him much.

"Oh Merlin," Harry thought. "I'm real messed up to not be panicking about my shortened lifespan."

A nudge near his cheek had the boy look towards his left, ignoring the pain his body was in. He was startled to come face to face with a small bud. Though he had no glasses on, he could see the young thing in all its innocent glory with how close the bud was hanging in front of his face. Out of the blue, a soft breeze picked up around the fragile thing and as if by magic it bloomed before him in a matter of seconds, maturing into a beautiful, pale pink flower with an almost ethereal glow.

A small, albeit slightly sad, smile broke out on Harry's face despite his miserable situation. It seemed as though the flower had bloomed just to cheer him up. And though he was yet to feel fine or fully comforted, he could appreciate the kind effort.

"Thanks," he whispered softly to the pretty thing.

A soft, petite tinkling brushed against his mind in reply. It felt almost like whispered kiss to him.

Harry sighed. Turning around, he realized that just like the flower, the other fauna around him were also gradually gravitating towards him. He rested his forehead on his knees with a slight groan out of both pain and exasperation. Pain as his body still felt as if it were being burnt alive by his injuries, exasperation as he had no idea what to feel at the strange happenings around him.

It's not that he hated nature. Not really. In fact, he was grateful for how it had protected and rescued him today. He was certainly glad the flora and fauna were not another new enemy in his already complicated life. He was pretty sure his mysterious teleportation to the woods was due to the plants around him too.

Still, the fact remained that if all these plants had not suddenly started acting strange and well – _more alive than normal_ , then Harry would not even be in his current predicament at all.

He looked up again as he felt vines and leaves cling around his tattered clothes.

"I don't know what to do," he said honestly to the patient plants around him. "I'm pretty sure this isn't normal even by wizarding standards. What the heck brought this sudden liveliness on in you lot?"

He naturally got no reply other than for the picking up of the wind and some gentle caresses from the leaves.

"Ah well," Harry muttered, not bothered by the lack of response, "If I'm going to die anyways, I suppose this is not the worse way to go. At least it'll be surrounded by living beings that actually seem to like _me_ for some bizarre reason."

A leafy swat on his head had him scowling at a drooping branch from a nearby tree.

"What was that for?!" he frowned.

The tree just remained swaying peacefully in the wind, looking as innocent as the summer sky.

Harry groaned. It was going to be a long wait to death, he knew it.

* * *

Sometimes, Harry often pondered if he had done some serious sins in his previous life (if he had one) or perhaps unwittingly offended some higher power in his current life. The thought came creeping often when he was alone or in an unbelievably unfair or miserable moment in life.

And though he was not particularly miserable (considering he had escaped from the Dursleys), he was very much isolated from human company and very much suffering extremely in his fatally injured state. So again, Harry wondered what he had done to incur the current bout of misfortune he was experiencing in life.

For while some may find pleasure in hiking about in jungles, Harry certainly had no love for it. And trudging through the slightly dense forest while every inch of him _hurt_ was certainly a misfortune in his books.

The teenage boy slumped onto a nearby tree. His already poor vision was spinning nauseatingly.

"I can't follow no more, pale pink," he rasped out to the flower that was leading him through the forest to Merlin knows where. He had dubbed it with the name five minutes after its blooming which it had spent cooing at him using faint tinkering sounds. It was highly unoriginal; he knew. But in Harry's defense he had been – and still was – hurting all over when he had named the flower out of a necessity to address it in some way.

Creativity was just not priority when you were in agony and dying. Honestly, it was miracle enough that he had managed to follow the bossy flower for a few minutes.

He felt black spots starting to appear in his sight.

"Well, I did last for some while at least," he thought morbidly, internally regretting his choice to amuse the flower when it had tugged him by the hand to follow it somewhere.

The last thing he felt as the last of his energy seeped away from his was the feel of something soft cushioning his fall as he fell straight on the protruding roots of the giant tree he had leaned on for support.

* * *

The kitchen of No. 12 Grimmauld place was filled with arguments. The news of a missing Harry Potter had not gone well as expected.

"SILENCE!" the shout from the old man seated at the head of the long table shocked most into shutting their mouths.

Albus Dumbledore let out a small breath. "This is grave news indeed. But fighting amongst ourselves only wastes precious time that could be used to find Harry and bring him back."

All in the room, except for eight individuals, shifted guiltily in their seats at having been chastised. But none of them were given time to squirm in their seats for long.

"Sirius," the leader of the Light turned his disappointed gaze towards the gaunt-looking man. "I know you meant well, but it was really reckless of you to have gone off by yourself looking for Harry today. What is you had been caught?"

The man looked expectantly at Sirius, waiting for an explanation or apology. Sirius deigned it that the old man did not deserve even a reply, especially an apology.

"What do you mean, by bring him back, _Headmaster_?" The man asked instead, disregarding the old man's question entirely. The impertinence was not missed and many frowned at the man. "I hope you are not suggesting to leave my godson back with the muggles."

Albus sighed again but did not press the man, knowing from the cold gaze directed at him that he would not get him to see reason.

"No, my boy. I think it is not wise to leave Harry there considering the tension caused by the fight between the Dursleys and Harry. We will bring Harry here, instead. Considering circumstances it would be better for him here for now."

Many head nodded at the decision but seven pair of eyes narrowed at the unsaid implication.

"For now?" The coldness in Sirius' voice stilled all movement within the dreary kitchen. " _My_ godson will not ever be returning to that hellhole, Albus! Not if I can help it!"

Remus placed a restraining hand on the agitated man's shoulder. They did not need a full blown fight. Yet.

Albus gave a stern look at Sirius.

"Sirius, you know why Harry has to live with the Dursleys. It is the safest place –"

"Don't give me that bullshit!" The dog Animagus stood up angrily, throwing an envelope onto the table. The parchment was recognized immediately as a Hogwarts letter. All in the room had after all received one for seven years in their life while attending the prestigious school in their youths.

But those sitting nearest to where the letter had landed on the table gasped in shock at reading the address on it. Tonks, who was nearest, picked it up and read out the address in a shaky voice, having understood its implications in a heartbeat.

"To Harry Potter, The-Cupboard-Under-The-Stairs, No.4 Private Drive."

Gasps of horror travelled around the room as its occupants realized what the address implied. A pair of onyx eyes, unnoticed by the rest, widened slightly in disbelief for a few seconds.

"Ah yes, the Cupboard-Under-The-Stairs. The precious little bedroom those _animals_ you call the Dursleys prepared with lots of care and love for their _special, freaky_ nephew after having found him at their doorstep, abandoned like a bottle of milk on a cold, October night." The sarcasm and anger were almost tangible in Sirius' voice. "Do enlighten me, Albus. How is an abusive household safe for any child?"

A tense silence followed the enraged man's speech.

"Is this true?" The voice belonged to none other than Mad-Eye Moody. "Albus! Has that boy been subjected to abuse?"

Albus Dumbledore was staring at the letter in Tonks' hands in shock.

"I don't – I don't know." The pain in the old man's voice shocked everyone in the room, none having seen the seemingly infallible man so lost.

However, it did not ease the anger seven people were feeling at the old man's mistakes.

"And why didn't you?" The sharp voice had everyone turning to look into the direction of one Molly Weasley. "Were you not Harry's supposed magical guardian before Sirius broke free? Every time questions about the Boy-Who-Lived was raised, _you_ Albus were the one giving answers on Harry being safe and in a well-loved home! Why then were you so unaware of the true situation that were happening in that house?"

"Molly I –"

"Don't you dare say you didn't know! You were the guardian! You are supposed to know! I asked you that day my sons supposedly rescued the poor boy from his relatives' house. Asked you if my sons' story of bars on Harry's windows and doors were true and you said everything was fine, Albus! Did you not even check?!"

The teenagers in the room exchanged surprised glances at each other, having not known Molly had taken their information seriously that day. The rest of the room reeled in shock at the revelations from the Weasley matriarch.

"Well, it explains why she kept repeating Dumbledore said Harry was safe," Ron muttered darkly under his breath so that his voice only travelled to his best friend and twin brothers. "She trusted him too much."

Hermione, seated on the boy's left bit her lip. She knew what Mrs Weasley probably felt like. Conflicted and betrayed. She was feeling it herself. The faith she had harbored in authorities and adults around her was starting to crumble fast. With much sadness she wondered when her first best friend had felt this same feeling. When he was five perhaps? Or maybe even earlier than that?

She felt tears pooling in her eyes but Hermione resolutely told herself to not let them fall yet.

Albus Dumbledore, meanwhile was slumped on his chair, looking every bit his age.

"I didn't know. I – I knew Harry probably had some difficulties, with his relatives not being partial to magic but – but he was their family. Other than one more chore, here and there, I didn't think they'd put Harry through much." Albus winced at the angry looks he was receiving. He supposed it sounded worse when said aloud. "You have to see. Lily's protection lives on through her blood. Which is her sister and Harry's cousin. Living with them enhances the protection for Harry. What is one additional chore to that? Harry is safe from Voldemort himself there."

Ironically enough, none in the room flinched at the name of the evil Dark Lord for once. It seemed united in their anger at the man in front of him, they had forgotten their fears.

"You mean you were aware that the Dursleys dislike magic?" Hestia Jones, a seventeen-year-old witch spoke up. She was a relatively new member to the Order and it was clear that she was not impressed with the blunder the group's leader had done, revered wizard or not. "Yet you left Harry Potter with them – a boy whom much of the wizarding world is indebted for being our Savior and for his own parents' sacrifice for the world?"

Sirius immediately decided he liked the witch, if only because she seemed to genuinely understand the value of Lily and James' contributions to the first war and not fawn over Harry like a piece of display treasure. The woman spoke of the facts as just that – facts.

"I truly did not think they would treat family with so much hate. Harry was just a child. They would have no reason to hate him."

"Albus, feigning naivety does not suit you." Surprisingly, it was Severus Snape who was speaking. "What are you, a child? To believe that _family_ would never betray or hurt one another. Have you forgotten _all_ the abused children that walked through the doors of Hogwarts so quickly? Most of them, I remember suffered at the hands of their parents themselves. Your mutt here is a prime example, is he not?"

The atmosphere grew tense again but to everyone's surprise no fight broke between the Potions' Master and Azkaban escapee.

Albus hung his head in shame. "I am sorry. It seems my judgement failed me in this matter."

Sirius snarled. "Damn right it did! And you are never going to interfere in my godson's life again, you sod!"

Albus frowned, opening his mouth to protest. "Sirius, please there are things – "

To his surprise, the old man found himself face to face with the tip of a glowing wand.

"You've ignored the will of my best friends, put their son in a home that they would have never wanted their son to live in, ordered _me_ to stay away from _my_ godson in the name of both our safety and blatantly neglected your role as a guardian in Harry's life. I've followed you because I trusted you were doing the right thing for Harry, Albus. A trust you have betrayed for fifteen years it seemed. You've in all purposes shamed Lily's sacrifice by subjecting her son to a life of abuse in your mistakes. Lily died so that her son could live, yes but she didn't sacrifice herself so that her child would live in misery you bastard! _You_ do not deserve to be in Harry's life no more. I have half a mind to ask old Minnie to take over the matters concerning education for Harry in Hogwarts, just to keep you from coming into contact with him."

"Sirius please," the old Headmaster's voice was filled with pain. "I am not going to justify the mistakes I have done when it comes to Harry. I have no excuses. I was a blind, naïve, an absolute fool. I am sorry. I truly only intended to ensure Harry would be safe."

"You are fifteen years late in the apology and you are not even giving it to the right person," Sirius spat.

Albus closed his eyes. "Please Sirius, there are things that I know that Harry must be told of eventually. I must be able to speak with him for –"

"And why can't you simply tell him it immediately?" Sirius snapped. "If it were so important to his future, Harry deserves to know."

"Harry is still much too young –"

Bitter laughter cut off the aged wizard. Startled eyes turned to find the source to be none other than one Hermione Jane Granger.

"Much too young?" The fifteen-year-old witch seemed indignant. "Much too young?!" Mirroring Sirius, the young teen stood up in a rage. "How young was Harry when you lot forced him into a deadly competition where wizards thrice his age and experience have died?! And you didn't even try to help him in any way! The other school's Heads had so blatantly cheated and helped their champions through the tournament and neither you nor your faculty had bothered to provide Harry with even the tiniest of hints! In fact, the disguised Death Eater had been the one to help Harry and that man had not even wanted Harry alive!" Hermione seethed. "Where was this concern for Harry then, _Headmaster_? Where was it when the entire school ridiculed him and bullied in fourth year? Heck, where was it when the ENTIRE school bullied Harry over his parseltongue ability in SECOND YEAR? When he was just been twelve years old?"

A heavy silence hung in the kitchen air.

"I'm pretty sure Headmaster, Harry is not young. Not after facing Voldemort, a basilisk and that dratted tournament. If Harry even admits to having had a childhood after what he had been through at the Dursleys, I would be surprised. So don't you dare say he is too young to know about whatever it is that concerns about his goddamn future!"

Most of the adults in the room were wondering what had happened to the authority-abiding witch that they had known by the end of Hermione's rant.

"You heard her, Albus." Sirius' voice was soft. "If it's important, then Harry better be told. And you won't be telling him it alone, mind. I will be there, along with Remus. and from what I've seen at least a few more of Harry's closest family will be joining us," the wizard spared a glance at Ron and Hermione who smiled at him gratefully at the implication. "And if you so much as try to play around with half-truths, I will be inclined to remove my godson from Hogwarts itself just to remove him from your manipulative presence."

Sirius obviously had no mercy for the man. Albus hung his head, knowing defeat when he saw it.

"Alright. But I am sorry. Truly."

Sirius didn't bother to believe the man despite the sincerity shining in his eyes. He was much too angry to accept the man's apology.

Remus' hand squeezed his shoulder reassuringly and the werewolf took over the direction of the conversation, speaking up for the first time. He knew his best friend needed a break before he could continue.

"I think perhaps its best if we move on to the discussion on how to find our missing charge –"

"Not yet, Professor – um, I mean Remus," Ron Weasley interrupted awkwardly, correcting himself at the look Remus shot him at his initial address of the man. "Before that, we'd like to know who the bloody hell was in charge of guarding Harry today."

Hestia Jones spoke up. "It was split between me, Kingsley and Dung. I took over from Kingsley at nine in the morning and left after Dung came in at three in the afternoon. Why?"

She didn't get a reply. Instead, five set of wands shot out at, hexing different curses at the figure sitting furthest away from Hestia. When the sudden flash of colours died down, Dung was bound in ropes, looking terrified and sporting various cuts and bruises from head to toe.

Cries of shock ran out in the assembled group in the kitchen.

"What was that for you lot?" Mad-Eye ground out; his own wand having sprung out to form a shield around him instinctively the moment he saw wands point at his direction. The man had unfortunately seated himself beside the thief.

"That miscreant left his post today without informing or having anyone else take over," Remus answered, gently pushing down Sirius' wand arm and shooting a look of warning at the teenagers across him who also had their wands out.

Anger descended on the group present. "What?"

"When Sirius and Remus went to Surrey after we showed them the letter from Harry, they found no Order member standing guard over the place." Fred explained.

"All they found was Harry's room in a mess, blood stains trailing to the door and the Dursleys who had no care for Harry's disappearance or injured state." George finished.

"Why would they care," Ron muttered darkly, this time loud enough for all to hear. "They probably put him in that state, the pigs."

Worry was etched upon the faces of most present.

"So what do we now?" Remus asked, steering everyone back on track. "Sirius and I searched the entire neighborhood. Harry's scent vanished right outside the front garden at Private Drive. It's like he simply vanished from the spot but I doubt he was capable of apparating away even through accidental magic."

"Just how bad was the lad injured?" Moody asked, both magical and normal eye fixed on the werewolf who was talking. The ex-auror's mouth was set in a grim line.

"We aren't sure but it must be bad. We interrogated the Dursleys and found from _Petunia_ that Harry was coughing blood when he fled." The man spat out the name with so much derision, the people present had to wonder what the woman did to invoke such a strong emotion in the mild mannered man. Severus though had an idea as to why the werewolf was disgusted.

"That't really bad," Moody grit out before turning to the bound wizard beside him and flinging at least three curses at the useless man. "You and I are going to need a talk, you _filth_. If you cannot commit, you do not volunteer," the man spat at the terrified thief.

Severus cleared his throat, ignoring the threats Moody was throwing at a cowed Mundungus.

"I suggest we go back to Surrey if we want to find clues to locate the missing brat." No one commented at his insult, noticing how the man's voice seemed unusually neutral despite the jibe. "I'm not saying you did not try to search well," Severus shot down any protest from Remus and Sirius before they could open their mouths. "But you two were most likely panicking and blinded by anger during your search. You could have missed something. Besides, that's the only place we are going to get clues from for now and searching once more won't harm anyone."

Sirius nodded stiffly. Strangely, he found himself not having energy to fight with the dour man, having more pressing matters to deal with. Judging by Snape's raised brow, the man too was finding his cooperation surprising as well.

"And have somebody looking out at the burrow too, please," Ron added. "If Harry comes looking for us, he is bound to go to the Burrow. He doesn't know where Grimmauld Place is."

And with that, more suggestions and ideas opened up among the members, all of them surprisingly productive in their goal to search for the missing Boy-Who-Lived.

* * *

When Harry finally regained his conscious, he wondered if he had died and travelled to some strange form of afterlife.

The first thing he had noticed were the two golden coloured bells hanging directly above him. Each were attached to some green support structure and each bell's clapper, which were both protruding from their bowls, were shaped oddly like the droppers he had seen from science labs in his old primary school. A beat later, Harry realised in alarm that both of the "droppers" were pointed directly at his eyes.

He had a gut feeling the location was no coincidence.

 _Thankfully_ , he could not see any substance being dripped upon him yet. So, with extreme care and caution, the teen extracted himself from under the mysterious things. Afterlife or no, he wanted no one messing and experimenting on him. Especially on his eyes.

It was a difficult endeavor, however, to move away, considering both structures seemed to have extended to either side of him and formed an odd green arch around him. Eventually, Harry managed to stand up on shaky legs. He turned back to the bells to try and gauge what exactly they were.

With the difference in perspective his height gave, the young wizard realized with a start, that the two structures were actually a set of identical vine-like plants of some type. And the bells he had seen were actually flowers. Beautiful glowing, golden flowers whose shades were so deep they almost looked solid and reflective, effectively justifying why he had mistaken them for actual bells.

And they could be found pretty much everywhere in the unknown location he found himself in.

Which brought his attention to another matter. His unknown location.

Harry stared in puzzlement at his surroundings.

Really, if he were dead, he had no clue where he was. Wherever it was, it had certainly not been what he expected. There was no light at the end of the tunnel or angels or demons or any kind of death personification coming to guide him through to someplace.

Truth be told, if he had to guess, he would assume that he had been deposited onto the fork of some gigantic tree. It had to be gigantic for walking about he could see that the fork was unnaturally large since it could afford to have him lying down comfortably – a probable reason why the tree had been chosen, he thought absently, considering he had been unconscious before. The outside world was hidden from view as there was dome-like curtain of leaves covering everything beyond the fork from view. Yet, light was not scarce within the shrouded place. The golden flowers dotting the fork provided their own mysterious light, brightening up the area as good as any light from the sun itself. The fork was not bare of other things either. It was strewn with copious amounts of multi-coloured petals, making its surface rather soft yet sturdy to lie on and Harry would admit it made for a much better mattress than the one he had been provided with at the Dursleys.

He wondered perhaps if this were what heaven was.

That thought alone brought him lots of confusion considering he had never believed heaven would have reserved a spot for him. What with all the trouble and mischief he had gotten into in his short life, he was certain there would have been some catch to letting him into heaven of all places.

But looking around at the calming, beautiful and almost other-worldly scenery before him – and he couldn't deny the fork in the tree _wasn't_ a beautiful place despite its oddity – he was wondering if maybe perhaps he had gotten lucky after all in his afterlife.

Of course, all that hope was shattered as soon as he took more notice of the plants near him again.

Harry frowned.

He could have _sworn_ the pair of bell flowers had been further away from where he was standing before.

A sudden tickling on his cheek had the teen jumping in shock, even as he whirled about to his left, a sense of déjà vu washing over him. And to his consternation, he came face to face, yet again, with a pale pink flower.

"You!" Harry whisper shouted into the empty place (if one discounted the plants' presence).

The faint sound of tinkling answered the boy and Harry groaned.

He knew then and there that he had – unfortunately – remained very much alive.

"How is this possible?" the emerald-eyed wizard asked the infuriating flower before him. "Not to be rude, little flower but I'm pretty sure my injuries were fatal and being alive means I have to continue feeling the pain which is a really sucky fate! I mean I could feel a rib literally piercing my lung and –"

Harry paused, his brain finally catching up to his body's current condition. He raised his arms to his face, staring astonished at the fact that they were unblemished with no scars or cuts except for the one cursed scar from the Basilisk in second year. A pat down his chest confirmed that no ribs were broken and a deep, painless gulp of fresh air reassured him his lung was fine.

He knew without checking then that the rest of his body had likely gone through the same miracle healing.

"H – How? But – this is," his stuttering was lost to the night air as the teen caught sight of the pair of bell flowers he had woken up underneath. He knew now that the pair was definitely inching closer to him but his mind was too busy deciphering other facts.

Such as the fact that the mentioned flowers had been pointing down directly at his eyes. His _eyes_.

Harry turned about on the spot, taking in all that he had seen of the place he was in again. This time a sense of reverence exuded from the teen as he realised the value of his sight.

His _healed_ sight.

"I can see. By Morgana, I can see!" he exclaimed out loud, prancing about the tee fork in excitement at the fact that shapes a few feet away from him were no longer blur spots. He had always hated his need to wear glasses before, despite knowing his father had worn a pair too. The dislike stemmed from the fact that they often left him vulnerable to fatal injuries when Dudley successfully landed a hit to his face and that he became useless whenever he lost the dratted things. "This is amazing! I never knew my sight could be _healed_!"

The teen skipped back to the pale pink flower. "I don't know what you plants did but _thank you_!"

He pulled the golden flowers that had by now reached up to twine around his shoulders and the pale pink flower into a light hug, taking care not to crush the fragile beings. "Thank you so very much! It was really kind of you!"

For once he did not care for the unusualness of his situation, how he was talking to _plants_ of all things. He did not worry over the queerness of it happening to him of all people and he let go of the fact that the plants unusual behaviour had been indirectly a trigger to his flight from the Dursleys (that situation was a good thing in Harry's books despite having been beaten. He simply loathed his relatives).

Not much beings alive had ever given _him_ gifts or shown _him_ genuine care so Harry came to cherish the few acts of kindness that was directed at him with much reverence in his life. And he knew without a doubt that this was one of those cherished moments.

A few tears escaped the young wizard's eyes. He was beyond touched that the plants had taken the effort to save him despite having known him for only a short period.

"Thank you very much," he whispered.

The sensation of vines wrapping around him in a hug gave him all the answer he needed from the flowers. 

* * *

Harry let out an awed gasp at the sight before him.

He had, out of curiosity, pushed back a curtain of the leaves covering his fork to see what lay beyond. It was a good decision. For from where he stood (balanced on a particularly thick branch), he was rewarded with a stunning view.

He was still in the forest. That was obvious. But it was nearing dusk and despite the dimming light, the woods were breathtakingly beautiful. The trees, ever serene, gave off a dark emerald glow in the dying sunlight, as though trying to show off their leaves one last time before the nigh took over to paint everything black in its wake. A sparkle of fireflies could also be spotted a few feet away from where Harry stood. The shining creatures were slowly drifting by, almost as if they were taking in the scenery as they flew on lazily.

Harry smiled softly at the thought and relaxed against the tree he was standing on. (It was an oak tree, he had realised after a while.) The teen wizard spent the next minutes enjoying the transition of the day into night peacefully, never even minding how the creepers and branches near him were sneaking closer to his body (The pale pink flower had long ago wrapped itself around his wrist, acting as a bracelet of some kind to his amusement.)

A hoot interrupted the wizard from his musings. Looking up to the fairly darkened sky, the teen saw a familiar shape, that was as white as the moon shining down on him, swoop down on him at a fast speed.

"Hedwig!" he cried in happiness. He knew that when he had run from the Dursleys, his beloved companion had not returned from her hunt from the night before.

"You found me! Good girl!"

Harry rubbed his familiar's breast, smiling at the way the owl purred at his ministrations. He laughed out loud when Hedwig went as far at to hop onto his shoulder and preen through his mop of hair affectionately.

"Missed me, haven't you?" He smirked at the snowy owl's overly motherly tendencies. "I missed you too, girl. I really did. It's been a crazy day honestly –" Harry paused.

"Wait a minute. Was that really a full moon behind Hedwig just now?"

The raven-haired teen looked up into the night sky. There, shining in all its ethereal glory, hung the full moon.

"Full moon?" he pondered out loud. "But – but it had been a full moon two nights before I left the Dursleys too!" He remembered it well enough. He had seen Hedwig fly off for a hunt that night after all.

Thoughts whirled about the teen's head as realisation dawned on him. He raised his left hand to his face, looking at the innocent flower wrapped around it.

"Um, Pale Pink, exactly how long have I been out for?"

To his shock, he saw flashes of images enter his mind as the flower danced in the wind. Put together, they all showed the progression of the moon's waning and waxing until it formed a full moon again.

Harry slumped down in shock. Whether it was from the fact that such clear images had been somehow sent to his head or from the fact that he had been out for almost a month, he was not sure. He decided to tackle the former first.

"Um, did you just send me a telepathic message, flower?"

A strong sense of disagreement washed over him. Harry shook his head slightly at the disorienting feel it caused due to not being his own emotion. A beat later, the knowledge that the answer had come from more than one source entered his mind.

He didn't know how he knew it but he was sure about it.

"This is really weird," he thought.

The teen took a cursory glance around at the plants twined about him. Somehow, he also _knew_ that it had been none of the other plants that had answered him along with Pale Pink. The answer he had received distinctly lacked the ingrained whisper-like quality that all of the plants possessed.

He locked eyes with amber orbs as his head eventually turned instinctively to the other side to find an answer to his mystery companion.

Uh- _oh_.

"Um, Pale Pink, who gave answered me if it wasn't you then?" Harry asked, not taking his eyes off his faithful owl. He distinctly got the impression that Hedwig seemed unimpressed at him for asking the question.

A vine creeped into his sight and the leaf at its very tip rose dramatically to point itself at Hedwig in answer to his question.

Harry took a deep breath.

This night, he knew, was going to be relatively long and was going to bring him no sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lmao the plants are honestly just all over harry... They ain't even trying to hide what they are doing...  
> OOohh and Harry is MIA for a whole monthhhhh. Yikes. Poor Sirius. I shld protect him too honestly.  
> Also, I'm not sure magic fixing Harry's eyesight and the malnourishments in his body is an overrated thing or not but I honesty just thing that will be a practical thing to do. Especially for Harry's case. The goal is to take care of him, especially in this context for the plants looking after him. And with the whole 'survival of the fittest' thing nature has gg on, I doubt it will neglect its duty in helping Harry be at his best for survival.
> 
> Am i making sense?  
> Typing is so hard when the character 'a' in your keyboard is wonky. It takes me about three presses before it even appears on my screen...I'm worried for my future self and her writing sessions. Rip my patience. I hope I do not jam my keyboard in frustration one day...
> 
> Please Kudos and Comment if you have the time!!  
> I welcome constructive criticism and would greatly appreciate it you could be polite while giving it.  
> Stay safe people!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I stan a smart Fawkes who can go against Headmaster Bumblebee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wish there were no linguistic errors but even I know that is too ambitious a wish.  
> Still. I'm going to hope. If there are any though, please point it out to me if you can :)

Magic stirred in the night air, buzzing through the atmosphere in its excitement. Creatures all around (both with and without magic) stilled for a moment, as knowledge about the chosen charge's return to consciousness flooded their minds, their innate connection with the earth keeping them on the know, almost as though it were an inherent ability they were born with.

But no human picked up on its activity.

In the wings of an ancient castle, a flame coloured avian awoke with a start as he too felt the magic's movement in the air.

Fawkes took to the air with a determined glint flashing to the room that gave what is required. Diving around the clattered objects in the room, the phoenix landed upon a peculiar looking instrument that had started to whir back into motion, no longer still like it had been for the past month. The object he had hid from his companion, Albus Dumbledore, the moment he had been alerted that the Earth had spontaneously chosen – chosen to grant a boy's wish in a moment of both kindness and gratitude.

Fawkes had known then that passive help would no longer suffice.

And now. Now _Harry Potter had woken up._ From a month of healing and resting. _And the spells to locate him would work again._

Fawkes knew, like all other creatures that had been alerted about the chosen charge. He knew he had to alert the ones that mattered before those that wished the boy harm found him first.

* * *

Sirius Orion Black woke from a fitful sleep as he felt something brush against his arm. The man jumped to his feet, wand flying to his hand within milliseconds as the paranoia he cultivated from living in the streets rose in him.

The sight of a large exotic fire-bird before him, however, stopped him from cursing everything around him.

"Fawkes?" Sirius blinked, taking a glance around him. His tired mind took a few moments to register that he was in his old bedroom in Grimmauld. "What are you doing here?"

The man glanced at the clock hanging on his room's wall and yawned tiredly. "It's one o'clock in the morning, Fawkes."

The phoenix trilled urgently and bobbed its head towards Sirius' bed. Turning around, Sirius realised a silver coloured trinket of some form had been placed near his pillow. The thing was spinning madly, making soft whirring noises. After casting all the cautionary spells, he knew, the man grabbed it up to examine it in surprise.

"A tracking device?" He asked, puzzled. He turned towards his unexpected visitor. "I'm assuming this belongs to Albus considering you brought it."

Fawkes trilled, affirming his assumption.

"Why the heck did you bring it to me though, Fawkes? I don't need to know who Albus stalks unless – " Sirius stood up straighter, mind becoming more alert as dots connected in his mind. "Unless it's Harry."

He looked at the creature of fire perched on his bedstand.

"Does this track my godson, Fawkes?"

Fawkes nodded, trilling urgently once more. Sirius swore, muttering insults under his breath at the Headmaster.

"That old goat! What is he playing at? Tracking my godson? This kind of trackers require blood from the person that is being monitored! And I'm certain Harry never mentioned being aware of these things!" Sirius paced about his room, thinking of various ways to get the old man tortured. "How long has he had these? Since Harry was placed with the Dursleys?"

Fawkes trilled again in affirmation; this time sounded much sadder than before.

"Don't be sorry, Fawkes," Sirius patted the creature's head in an attempt to comfort.

As a man who was blessed with a _magical_ Animagus – a Grim – Sirius had been blessed with the ability to understand creatures better than other humans. He could not understand them completely but he could sense their emotions and ideas well enough to hold a decent conversation. It had been a reason why his Care of Magical Creatures had shot up from an EE to an O by the time he did his OWLs.

"It's not your fault that the man is an idiot who thinks he knows best. Thank you for at least bringing this to my attention now. I know it must have been hard to go against the man after having aligned with him for so long."

Fawkes gave a trill of thanks to the gaunt man for his attempt to reassure.

"Ok, back to important matters. I'm assuming – again – that since you only brought this tracker to me now, that it likely hasn't been working for the past month like all the other tracking spells the whole Order has been casting?"

Fawkes trilled. Paused. Then trilled again.

Sirius' eyebrows rose. "What? There are more of these?!"

The phoenix flew to the man's shoulder and trilled gently. Sirius relaxed.

"Oh. So, none of them tracks Harry but you think they may be related to him somehow?"

Fawkes nodded solemnly.

The man cursed, running a hand through his shaggy hair.

"Ok listen. I need you to bring all the devices you know Dumbledore has that is connected to my godson here. I don't care if it is a device that simply has Harry's name on it for fun's sake. I want it here and away from that old man now! Please Fawkes."

The phoenix did not wait to hear more. It flashed away and returned a minute later with more silver instruments and a tiny vial.

Sirius cast the customary caution and detections spells once more and swore once more. He reached for the vial first.

"Three drops of blood that is a little over three years old! That man took blood from my godson when he was eleven! How?!"

Fawkes trilled notes that formed blurred images of hospital wings.

Sirius frowned. "I don't like this. I don't like this at all! Why the heck would Dumbledore need the blood of my godson?"

Fawkes bobbed his head towards the tracking device.

"To renew this thing? Seriously?!"

Fawkes shrugged, seeming to say that was all he knew about the matter.

Sirius let his head fall into his hands.

"I don't like this. Albus is playing a really dangerous game, taking blood without permission from a minor of all people! I don't like this. I don't like this at all. Why the heck is he so obsessed with Harry anyway? The old coot!"

Sirius resumed his pacing around his bed.

"Ok, first off I will need to figure out what the man is trying to do with all these devices. I need to get to know what he knows or else that old goat will keep trying to manipulate things off to his wishes."

Fawkes trilled a few notes in advice.

"Yes, yes. I should bring in the others about this matter. They would be able to help, indeed. Thanks Fawkes!" Sirius gave a small smile. It vanished a moment later as the man frowned. "But obviously not all of them. Only those who are on Harry's side. The rest I fear would simply tattle to the old man and ruin any chances for us."

The man paused near his room's window, staring at the full moon that was shining in the night sky.

"But most importantly, I must get Harry back. He could be in danger for all I know."

Sirius' frown deepened. "Going alone is not a good option but Remus is unavailable tonight and Molly needs to look after the kids. And the kids," Sirius' frown deepened. "They really care about Harry. It would be wrong of me to not tell them about this after the worry they are going through. But if where we are going is not safe then I could be bringing them into danger –," Sirius stopped to stare at Fawkes as the bird interrupted him. It flew to perch on his shoulder again, trilling many notes wi.

"What? What do you mean Harry is safe? How do you know?" Sirius stared at the phoenix with hope. His body relaxed against his instincts at the information that his godson was safe, despite being missing. He knew for a fact that the phoenix was not a creature to lie or spin half-truths. It was against the creature's conduct.

Fawkes cooed softly, using his beak to point in the direction of the trees the that dotted the pavement outside. Sirius frowned, trying to figure out the confusing ideas that were being conveyed to him.

"The earth protects her own? Fawkes what are you talking about?"

The bird trilled some more.

"I'm afraid I don't understand. Tides changed? Something was granted? The earth has become the guardian? What?!"

The fire bird set its eyes upwards, seemingly exasperated at the man's inability to understand what it did. It flew over to the puffing instrument that tracked the missing Boy-Who-Lived and set it back into the escapee's hands and trilled urgently.

"Ok, ok I get it. The important thing is that it's safe enough for us to go after Harry so I can bring the others into it. But I'm going to need you if I want to convince Molly about that. Come on. Let's wake them up. Nobody else from the order is here so it's the safest time to tell these new revelations to the Weasleys and Hermione."

With that Sirius waved his wand over the instruments and vial that Fawkes had brought over, levitating them out of his room.

"Oh, and be a nice prankster and flash them all into the living room unexpectedly, would you, Fawkes?" Sirius asked, a small bounce coming to his step for the first time in a month.

His godson was safe and he would hopefully have him back before the end of the day if all went well and they tracked Harry before anyone else found him.

* * *

Harry Potter swung his legs absently as he sat silent upon a thick branch of the oak tree that was his temporary haven. Sleep had long left his mind ever since he found out how long he had been unconscious.

One month. One whole month.

He wondered if anybody had noticed his absence at all. Hedwig had returned without any letters to him. Then again, that may just be because she may have panicked and come after him when he ran away, instead of waiting for a reply from his friends.

Harry sighed.

Truthfully, he did not want to go back.

Where would he go even? The Weasleys were not in the burrow, he knew. They were with Sirius in someplace Harry had no means to reach because nobody bothered to tell him. And then there was the fact that he could be sent back to the Dursleys again.

Harry did not want that. He doubted he could last through another visit to his relatives ever.

He sent a small glance towards the plants around him. They were all leaning towards him or discreetly trying to stay in contact with him in some way or another. His eyes travelled down to his left arm which was decorated from the wrist to the shoulder in green vines and flowers. He had tried to stop them, but apparently all of the little miscreants had taken his reluctant acceptance of Pale Pink – which was still curled around his wrist – as an invitation for them all to cut the blood flow in his body. It had taken considerable persuasion to keep the twining and clinging to just his left arm alone.

Harry sighed. He definitely would not last if he were sent back to the Dursleys. Vernon would kill him on sight, he was sure and Petunia would simply look the other way when he would be buried in the back yard or some other place like a sack of potatoes.

Harry shuddered at the thought. The plants around him circled him in an attempt to comfort, sensing his distress.

"What do you lot think, hmm?" Harry asked.

_Stay._

Harry turned in surprise at the clear plea.

"Did you just talk?"

The plants swayed. Harry learnt to take that as agreement from the beings.

"You've never talked before. Just ideas and feelings before now," Harry murmured.

_Little…Little…In time_

Harry frowned, trying to make sense of the broken message.

"You'll be able to do this little by little? As in with time this communication will be getting more easier?"

The plants swayed again and a sense of joy washed over him.

"I see," Harry muttered, a small smile tugging at his lips at the excitement coursing through the plants around him.

_Stay_

Harry sighed.

"I want to. I really do but – But won't that be abandoning those I know? Voldemort is out there and I can't help my friends if I don't go back and learn to fight."

The plants around him cuddled closer sending sensations that overwhelmed him. There was a desperate plea dominant in them, however.

Hedwig, who had perched on a nearby branch, cooed. She flew down to perch on Harry's shoulder and proceeded to stare at him.

Harry blinked, waiting. Hedwig's eyes were narrowed in determination, as though she was trying to figure something out.

A minute of this had Harry curious and worried.

"Um, Hedwig? Are you ok?"

His familiar briefly showed disappointment before sending him images of a waning moon and a scarlet engine to convey the plants' desire.

"Stay for the two weeks before going back to school?" Harry asked, surprised at the proposition.

It was not a terrible idea, he supposed. It would solve his accommodation issue but –

"I don't know how to survive in a forest you guys."

Hedwig hooted at him, unimpressed. She returned to her determined staring before seemingly giving up and sending images of nuts and fruits and his temporary haven.

Harry laughed. "Ok so you guys have covered me for that…hmm aren't you all so very conveniently prepared to house me."

The plants seemed to shy away in sheepishness. Even Hedwig squirmed slightly but soon went back to simply staring at him intensely.

Harry decided he would ignore how her behaviour both unnerved and worried him slightly to focus on the plants' proposition.

"Seriously? You want me to stay before leaving for school?"

His companions swayed (or absently hooted in Hedwig's case) their affirmation.

Harry thought over the matter again. Leaving involved the risk of being forced back to Dursleys or worse, someone from Voldemort's forces capturing him before he found Sirius or the Weasleys. Staying here had so far not brought him to the notice of any one, magical or muggle. And while he would have to find ways to entertain himself, this was likely the most secure and peaceful accommodation he would find.

"But what about the others?" A voice in his mind whispered. "Would they not miss you? Worry over your absence?"

Harry frowned. That was something that was holding him back from staying. What would Sirius and the rest be doing when they found he was missing? They would realise sooner rather than later when any letters they sent to him returned without being opened. Or when someone eventually was sent to collect him from the Dursleys.

Would he be able to stay here peacefully while making them worry?

Harry's mind drifted to the days he spent depressed and abandoned at the Dursleys. He thought of how his friends ignored his pleas and followed the orders od Dumbledore, whom Harry was starting to get angry at for ignoring him.

Harry sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I can't decide," he told his companions honestly. "I want to stay here and not go back to the madness. But a part of me doesn't want to put my friends through the worrying of me being missing."

Hedwig crooned, understanding his dilemma. The plants around him nuzzled his arm and cheek in comfort.

 _Sleep first then?_ Harry jumped again in surprise. This time the words lacked the distinct whispery quality of the plants.

"Hedwig?" He looked at his familiar in awe. The snowy owl simply lifted its head in pride at its achievement. "You talked in my mind! You can do that too!"

_Yes._

Harry rubbed her head. "That's brilliant girl. You don't seem to be strained like the plants when they tried to do it, so that's good."

_I am bonded to you. You are more open to me and allow me in. I can form links quicker and easily. Without drawbacks. They cannot._

Harry stared at his owl in confusion. "You mean I have a part to play in enabling the plants to speak to my mind?"

Hedwig gave a slight cuff of her wings at Harry's head.

_Of course, little one. Communication needs to go both ways._

"Right right. Of course. Silly me." Harry rubbed his head as he rolled his eyes. "But why could you not talk to me from the start Hedwig? We have been bonded as you mentioned since I was eleven."

Hedwig seemed to give the owl equivalent of a shrug.

_This is a new ability youngling. Granted the night after the previous full moon. I am still learning how to talk this way with you._

"Oh, I guess that makes sense." Harry frowned. "By the way, I'm not a youngling, Hedwig…"

_You are still little, Harry. No matter what you may think. And I am older than you so you are youngling to me."_

Harry could not stop the blush that spread across his cheeks at that. It was frankly embarrassing for him and judging from the buzzing joy coming from around him, he knew the plants knew it too and were enjoying his embarrassment.

"Hedwiggggg," Harry groaned, putting his head into his hands.

_You are really red. Are you alright, youngling?_

Harry turned redder at that. It seemed Hedwig did not understand the notion of being embarrassed.

"I'm fine. Just very embarrassed," he muttered the last bit to himself.

_Well then, perhaps you should head to rest. It is not your time to be active._

Hedwig looked at him expectantly.

"Seriously?" Harry look around at all his companions who seemed to have shifted to the goal of getting him to bed, now that Hedwig had brought up the topic. "I haven't even decided on whether to stay or not, you guys."

The plants twined around, waving their leaves in a motion that almost seemed like they were waving off the matter of staying or leaving as unimportant.

"But –"

_You can decide that when the sun is up, little one. Deciding now or tomorrow will not make much difference, will it?_

"Well, no I guess," Harry admitted.

_Then head for rest. You shall decide later. Besides, the plants have a – what is it you humans call it – a surprise yes. For you. You must be here tomorrow to experience it, should you not?_

Harry looked up at the news, startled.

"A surprise for me? What is it? And why?"

 _It would not be a surprise if I told you, would it?_ Harry could swear Hedwig was being cheeky with him with how smug she looked. _And the reason for it is because it is a necessity for you. Take it as part of the new blessing you have received._

Harry frowned. "Blessing? You mean this new ability to understand you guys? Wait, Hedwig. You know what this all means? Tell me more. I – I want to know. I have no clue why and how this is all happening."

Hedwig paused before giving another one of her owl shrugs.

_I do not know much. All I know is that you have been blessed and therefore are allowed to understand us._

Harry frowned. "That's all? But why –"

_Come now, get inside, youngling. The full moon is not a night for discussions. You can ask questions and we can figure this through tomorrow. For now, sleep soundly and let the beasts of the night wander about._

Harry's frown deepened but he let the vines around him tug him gently back into the little haven that he woke up in.

"This isn't a muggle woods, is it?"

This time the answer came from all his companions.

_No._

"Hmm, figures," the young wizard thought as he spared a last glance at the full moon outside. He wondered if there were werewolves and other magical creatures prowling about. The only magical forest he knew was the Forbidden Forests near Hogwarts but he was certain that was not where he was.

For the first time since waking up in the woods, Harry wondered how far from home he actually was.

* * *

"The Amazon?! Are you bloody joking?" Ron Weasley stared at the rest of the people in the kitchen in horror.

"Not simply the Amazon. The magical Amazon," Arthur Weasley corrected as he pointed to the highlighted region on the map spread across the dining table. "The most naturally protected forest in the planet due to the ancient earth magic that watches over the location like a guardian."

Sirius narrowed his eyes at the description and sent a glance to the phoenix sitting atop the kitchen counter. Fawkes however, gave away nothing and simply tilted his head to the side. Hermione meanwhile leaned forward eagerly to drink in the information being offered.

"The muggles do not even realize the true vastness of the forest due to the fact that the part they have access to is cut off from the remaining forest that houses the endangered species of normal animals and thriving species of magical animals."

"You mean, there is a whole lot more out there than muggles have discovered?" There was a mad sparkle in Hermione's eyes.

"Yes," Arthur confirmed. "But we do not know much about it."

"Why not?" Hermione seemed to deflate a bit.

"The magic. It not just protects the forest's fauna and flora from muggles but also from magical. It's a prime reason why the Ministries of Magic around the world do not bother to try and interfere in this particular forest or even try to profit from its resources. They could not even if they tried. Not many are able to travel into it and come back unharmed because the nature of the magic there is to punish anyone that harms a being within its grounds out of selfish needs. That condition even covers taking any plant or animal parts for potions research or material. So nobody can profit from there and therefore nobody likes it, basically."

"Oh," Hermione digested the news with conflicted emotions. Disappointment at the prospect that nothing much could be gleaned yet unable to be fully upset because she could sense the morality in the magic's actions to protect nature, after having heard so much about deforestation impacts from her muggle primary. "I never knew magic could act so sentient, honestly. It sounds powerful."

"All magic is sentient somehow, Hermione." The answer surprisingly came from Fred.

George nodded, supporting his twin. "Even the magic inside of you. You don't think accidental magic is simply a child channeling his/her magic in their distress do you? It would be impossible for muggle-born kids since they are not even aware of magic being real. A part of is also down to the sentient magic knowing what to do to protect its charge."

Hermione's mouth opened in an 'o' shape.

"Seriously Ron, stop gaping. You already know this stuff, unlike Hermione who is still new to our world! You're going to let a fly in," Ginny snapped at her brother as she rubbed of the last of the sleep clinging on her eyes. The youngest Weasley (who had been brought up to date on the news about Harry's disappearance) shook her ehad at her brother.

"So what?" Ron snapped back. "It still doesn't dampen the - the magnitude of this!" Ron waved his hands around the map on the table, ignorant to the surprised looks of the rest at his rather perceptive view. "Can you believe Harry managed to land himself in such a sacred place of all places?! Only him, honestly."

A light round of chuckles followed the exclamation. No one could deny the truth of it though. Molly brought the attention back to the owner of the house when the moment of laughter passed.

"So what is your plan, Sirius?"

The man shrugged.

"The plan is relatively simple. Go and get Harry. The details have not been worked out, considering the location," Sirius said with a sigh. "I have no idea how and why Harry ended up in magical Amazon of all places. And considering the volatility and sentience of the magic there, I have no idea how well it would react to us going there with a goal of finding and taking away someone who is currently, for all we know, living in the forest."

Ginny frowned. "But Harry belongs here with you and us, doesn't he? He is family to us."

Sirius sighed. "But does he return the sentiments?"

The man raised a hand, cutting off any protests.

"I'm sure he does consider you guys close friends and me the closest thing to family he ever had. But is he sure we are family? Did we ever tell him that and left no doubt on the matter about it for him? Think from his perspective right now after what he went through this summer especially. He probably thinks he has no place where he really belongs."

The gathered group of eight grew somber at the truth of the statement.

"But I don't get why that would interfere in us bringing Harry back," Hermione frowned.

Sirius sighed. "You have to understand Hermione, magic is debated to have a mind of its own. In cases like the Amazon, there is actually much evidence to prove that theory true. For Harry to have actually have stayed within that forest for a whole month and not get punished or kicked out, it is likely the magic accepts him as part of the fprest. And when something is part of the forest, well, you heard what Arthur said - the magic doesn't like anyone messing with what is its."

The teenagers present frowned, while the adult Weasleys nodded solemnly, already having known about the forest and its phenomena.

"But if Harry wants to come back? Then what?" Ron asked.

"That is what I'm banking on to get him back but if he refuses to come back however, I - I," Sirius sighed. "I don't know what to do. I won't force him if he doesn't want to live with me anymore."

The rest of the group sent the man sympathetic looks. They understood how much Harry's disappearance and discovery of the teen's abuse had affected the Grim Animagus.

"He'll want to come back, Sirius," Ron assured the man. "If Harry still hasn't understood that he is a part of our family, then it just means you'll have to make the idiot realise the truth when you see him and then get him back."

Fawkes, who had so far stayed silent, cooed at the group, sending feelings of hope through his song to support Ron's assurance. The group smiled their gratitude to the fire phoenix.

"Thanks you two," Sirius whispered. "That is what i'm planning to do when I see him."

"Well, let's get back on track, guys. Sirius, how are you even going to cross borders to reach the Amazon?" Hermione asked. "You're a wanted man."

"Money has a lot of power in this corrupt world, Hermione," Sirius answered simply. "And the goblins do not care for the wizarding world's problems as long as clients pay up well."

Hermione frowned at the blunt way the man spoke of the corruption running rampant in the wizarding society but bit back her rants on the subject. There were more important things for them. Like the impending argument she could sense Mrs Weasley was going to create with her predictable "kids won't be stepping out of the house" rule for the matter of who would accompany Sirius to get Harry. Glancing at Mr Weasley who was giving his wife wary looks, Hermione knew he sensed what was coming too. She decided to interfere before the whole group wasted precious time arguing over a simple matter.

"Alright then, when are we leaving?"

"Excuse me young lady, you are not going anywhere."

Hermione narrowed her eyes, putting on her best game face. "Why not?"

"This could be dangerous. It's a dense forest! You cannot simply pack up and leave!"

"But Sirius cannot go alone either! Isn't it better for more than one person to be going on this rescue mission?"

"She has a point, dear –"

"No Arthur!" Molly cut off her husband. This was obviously a matter she was not going to budge on. "If somebody has to accompany Sirius, it doesn't have to be you, Hermione. You are not even allowed to do magic out of school!"

"Then who is going to go with Sirius? Are you suggesting he go alone? Remus won't be able to join him anytime soon, Mr Weasley has work and you are needed here to distract the Order members from realising Sirius' disappearance for as long as possible!"

The rest of the occupants watched in morbid fascination at the growing fight between the brunette witch and Weasley matriarch.

"Well whoever is going won't be you kids since you are not of age and do not know enough to protect yourselves out there in the forest!"

"Oh, so what, are you suggesting Fred and George are better than me now since they are of age? Is that what this is? Those miscreant sons of yours are better than me?" Hermione snapped.

Fred and George sported twin looks of mock affront at having been called miscreants. Molly, however, grew red at the insult to her sons. She may call them that herself from time to time when they caused her trouble but she loved them dearly and would not stand for anyone else insulting them!

"Well maybe it is, young lady. They are much better candidates that you who are much too young to go prancing about in a forest full of deadly beasts!"

"Oh, I can't believe this. So, _you would_ let Fred and George accompany Sirius but not me?" Hermione asked, taking up her look of indignation to the extreme.

Mrs Weasley, too caught up in the argument failed to see the trap laid out for her. The others, however did not miss it. The watching teenagers and Azkaban escapee exchanged small smiles while Arthur suppressed the urge to warn his wife about the incoming trap. Fred discreetly summoned the packed emergency bag that he and George had long ago prepared for such a situation. They had pledged on the day Harry's disappearance was noted that they would do anything to help out the boy who had done so much for them and their family. And now that Hermione Granger, miss goody two shoes herself, was paving the way willingly for them to help out, they were not going to miss the opportunity. Sirius meanwhile, discreetly pocketed the tracker device and then passed his left hand to the twins for them to hold on. His right arm clutched his wand tightly. A small glance to the phoenix perched on the kitchen counter conveyed his desire clearly to the avian that sent him waves of amusement in reply, clearly enjoying the show.

"Yes, I would send Fred and George with Sirius, Hermione Granger. You are not old enough to charge into a forest!"

Hermione bit back a triumphant smile. The kill was not yet executed.

"Fine then," the brightest witch of her age exclaimed with the most pissed off "whatever"-attitude she could fake. "Send those two with the man. Watch and see if I will let that happen while I'm here!"

Molly set her foot down. "Fred and George are accompanying Sirius to fetch Harry, young woman. And that's final! You will not interfere!"

Hermione gave the Weasley matriarch a bright smile. "As you wish, Mrs Weasley."

Molly blinked in surprise, taken aback by the sudden change in demeanor of the teenage witch.

"Wha –"

"Thanks for – "

" the permission –"

"Mum!" Fred and George chorused cheerfully.

Molly whirled around and watched in shock as Fawkes flew onto the shoulder of Sirius Black.

"See ya soon Molly. I promise to bring your of age twins back in one piece!"

With that Fred, George and Sirius disappeared from the dreary kitchen in a flash of fire.

Molly blinked, still digesting the fact that she was tricked. Hermione, Ginny and Ron meanwhile started inching their way back to their rooms, stifling laughter and praying to not get caught anytime soon in a Molly anger-storm. 

* * *

**_"AVADA KEDEVRA!"_ **

Harry sat up with a gasp. Glimmers of green swam in his vision and the jarring sound of high cruel laughter echoed in his mind. Feeling ropes around his wrists, the teenage wizard yanked his arms towards his in a panic, mind focused on getting out of the graveyard before Voldemort killed him too.

Suddenly light flooded the place he was in. Harry blinked, taking in the sight of bell-shaped flowers that provided the sudden source of light to him. His brain caught up to his true predicament.

Harry looked down to his hands. He found vines and flowers curled around his wrist, shivering slightly as though startled and frightened by his sudden, violent movements. With the light, he could also see Pale Pink amongst the shaking beings.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. Are you guys alright? I didn't mean to hurt you."

He pulled the fragile things off his wrists gently to hold them in his palms and cradle them to his chest. Unbeknownst to him, his magic started to feed itself to the plants, reacting naturally to its master's desire to calm his companions. The plants straightened up slowly, the intake of magic strengthening them and opening up their bond to the young wizard more.

"Are you better?" Harry asked. "I'm sorry for startling you lot. I had a nightmare and I forgot where I was."

The vines curled around his wrist in reply, dragging their flowers along with them as they snaked all the way up to his shoulders. Harry bit back a laugh as the sensation tickled his skin.

_…Better…_

The young teen did not notice how much stronger the whisper-like reply was than the last time he had conversed with the plants.

"That's good." Harry gave a soft smile.

_Sleep?_

"No," Harry shook his head, a small shiver running down his spine at the thought of more nightmares. "I don't think I can manage any more sleeping. Do you know what time it is now?"

The curtain of leaves covering his haven opened in reply, letting him glimpse the lightening sky outside. Streaks of pink and orange were already decorating the vast blue above.

"Ah well, it's already morning so there's no point going back to sleep anyway," Harry mumbled. "Unless you lot need more sleep. I don't mind lying in with you if u want to doze a little while longer."

In his head, Harry wondered if his life could get any weirder. He had never thought he would be asking plants whether they needed more "sleep" ever in his life. But here he was anyway.

The plants around him however, were ready to get on with the day. Curling around his shoulders, the vines and flowers already using him as a human support system got comfortable before stretching a leafy end towards outside the have as though saying "Onward steed!"

Harry rolled his eyes. "As you command your Highness-es. We'll get out."

The emerald-eyed teen stretched his arms above his head as he stood on a thick branch, letting the morning sun warm his body. He spotted his familiar after a low hoot had him looking up towards a nearby tree.

"Hello Hedwig. Were you out hunting after I went to sleep?"

Hedwig hooted and nodded her head. An image of two dead mice flashed across Harry's head. The teen fought back a small grimace. Not the best thing to see so early in the morning but he loved Hedwig too much to get upset at her for it.

"Good hunt, girl. Did you rest afterwards? If not you better go and sleep for a bit."

Hedwig shook he head and feelings of rejuvenation washed through Harry. He took it as that meaning his familiar did rest up well.

"Ok then. So, I guess you'll be joining me as I try to find a place to brush my teeth and find food to eat. Any of yall have any recommendations on where to go?"

He looked around at his companions. A tap on his head had him looking up. Harry blinked. A branch was offering him some mint-like plants.

"Is that mint?"

_Yes_

Harry took the offered plant and stared at his odd companions.

"So…? Why are you giving me mint?"

The plants around him gave him exasperated emotions through their link.

_You wanted to freshen up your mouth._

Harry stared at Hedwig. Looked at the mint in his hands and then back at his familiar.

"Well, I just meant a river or somewhat to rinse my mouth truthfully. Do I swallow these after chewing or spit them out?"

_They are safe to consume, youngling._

"Right. Of course." Harry popped the leaves into his mouth, trying to ignore the foolish feeling he was feeling, standing there like an idiot, chewing and swallowing leaves. The knowledge that nobody except the plants and Hedwig were witnessing him somewhat consoled his teenage heart.

A moment later, he swallowed the minty mess he was chewing, internally surprised at how clean his mouth felt. Another tap had him looking back towards the branch that had offered him mint leaves. This time it had some strange looking radishes. That were orange in colour.

"Oh. Thank you."

He took a hesitant bite out of one. A pleasant sweet and sour taste filled his tongue as the juices within the odd fruit flooded his mouth.

"Mmmh, these are really good!" Harry took a larger bite, leaning against the trunk of the oak tree comfortably.

"Where did you get these?"

The leaf pointing upwards had Harry glancing upwards again, except this time he got a good view of the hidden inhabitants that were crowding the canopy.

Harry coughed as he choked on his breakfast in shock.

"What the - ?!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didja really think I'll let you know what's going to happen next that easily?
> 
> Well...just click to the next chapter to see, folks.  
> OOhhh but guess what happened!!! It's pretty easy. I think. Considering the whole theme is nature and he is in a forest...This is a lot of hints.
> 
> Kudos and Comment please! Stay safe! Take care of yourselves!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Do you guys realise, the moon doesn't disappear immediately in the morning sometime?  
>  I don't think poor Harry does. He should have waited a while longer before wandering the forest...
> 
> For those of you wondering, I know. This ain't a summary but I suck at those. So...╮(╯∀╰)╭

"Your Majesty, we can beak the neutrality. We will never again get such a golden opportunity."

"I agree. Send our own with them. Make sure no harm comes to the boy."

"As Your Liege orders."

* * *

"Why is this happening to me?" Harry looked heavenwards. He stared beseechingly at the still young morning sky as though it would give him answers. "This isn't normal. Not even by wizarding standards. Why is this –"

Harry paused as he felt waves of sadness flow around the circle of creatures around him. It took him a second to interpret that the animals were all sad because they seemed to think he was upset by their presence. Harry's eyes widened in alarm.

"Oh no no no! I don't – I mean – I'm not saying you guys – Oh look, I find your presence um, um – amazing?! Really cool actually!" Harry stumbled through his words, unsure of how to comfort creatures. Hedwig was the only animal he interacted with on a daily basis and his owl was not often upset at him. Therefore, he was not entirely well versed at comforting animals.

"I'm not even good at comforting humans and plants," Harry thought with a sigh as he took in the un-ending waves of sadness still flowing from his companions to him.

The fifteen-year-old wizard reluctantly settled down onto the ground and simply opened his arms in invitation. Within seconds he found himself with an armful of vines, birds, flowers and other animals. He refused to think exactly how ridiculous he looked like.

"May I talk now?"

The voices in his mind quietened as did the clearing around him.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt feelings, alright. I just never heard of this – whatever this is – happening to anyone on the planet. Not even wizards. I mean, one day everything is normal and then next thing I know, the plants are talking in my head. And now, you creatures are also talking in my head. And what's more –" Harry searched for a nicer word that was not "weird". He sighed. "- Unusual, I suppose, is that _all_ of you for some bizarre reason are fond of me."

Harry gave the squirrel running about his laps a deadpan look. He had a feeling that one was not really listening to his heartfelt apology.

"I got overwhelmed for a minute, ok? I'm quite thrilled at your company though. No matter how unusual. I mean. Look at all of you! I think most of the world's species seemed to have assembled here."

Harry personally thought he was not exaggerating. And if one were to have been in the teenager's position, they would agree with him. For surrounding the wizard were a plethora of creatures both magical and non-magical. From sparrows to eagles to Griffins to a young Runespoor, the forest area around the boy was packed with an assemblage of prey and predators that were oddly enough not fighting.

"Despite the bizarreness of the situation, I can never deny that this is an amazing situation. I'm honestly just glad you creatures and plants are not suddenly out for my blood some people in my life are," Harry murmured. He eyed the baby Runespoor whose venom sac seemed suspiciously mature and packed. "I honestly don't think I'll stand a chance if that had happened."

A strange lizard-like creature chose the moment to sprint up to him from a lowered branch of a tree nearby. Its weight naturally pushed down the branch and Harry soon found himself staring into the creature face when he turned his head slightly to his right. The being was a beautiful shade of aqua blue and had adorable ivory spikes running along its back. It's underbelly – from what Harry glimpsed, was a creamy white similar to its spikes. But the most curious aspect of it was the markings that decorated all around the creature's body. They reminded Harry of some runes that he remembered the golden egg from the second Task of the Triwizard Tournament had on its covering.

The creature gave the distracted teen a slight nudge against his nose, hanging precariously from the branch it balanced on. Harry gave a chuckle at the cold, watery sensation its touch gave him.

"I'm going to assume you are somehow, someway related to rivers or lakes, little buddy." He held out his palm and the small creature gave a delighted squeak as it jumped into his palm. The feeling of affirmation he received from the being's link with him confirmed his guess.

"Well, why are you all the way out here then when you should be playing in water?"

An image of his own face was the reply.

"Ah right," Harry muttered, mind brought back to his situation. "Me."

He looked at the assembled creatures around him. Frankly, the boy was not sure what he had to do. He knew if someone else had seen him, they would have shamed him for not going around interacting with the creatures and plants and trying to collect valuable parts from them while he had the opportunity. Some of the animals present, he knew (from what he had learned from Hogwarts), were very hard to find and even harder to catch and profit from for potions or some other business. He had a feeling the odd creature settling itself on his still outstretched palm was perhaps not even discovered by anyone. People, Harry was aware, would kill to be in his position.

But Harry knew he was not interested in trying to collect any exotic or magical plant or animal. The mere thought of using these beings that were fawning over him in that manipulative manner made him guilty.

"Well, I'm assuming you guys came here to see me." The ' _for some bizarre reason_ ' was said in his head. "Well you've seen me. What now?"

He gave gentle strokes to a colourful parrot that had settled onto his shoulder from earlier as he waited for a reply. The happy squawks it emitted made him smile.

_All the people wish to know you, little one. Not all of them are here however. There is only so many that can crowd around you here right now._

Harry blanched slightly at the thought that there were more creatures around here. He had honestly not realised how huge the forest was. He resigned himself to his fate however. He knew he couldn't escape from the situation, considering he was stuck in the forest.

Not that he wanted to in all honesty. Other than the fact that it was overwhelming, the company of the creatures and plants were nice after an isolated summer at the Dursleys and one month of unconsciousness.

"Ok. Sounds like an impromptu trip around the forest is the likely solution. Fine, I'll humour you guys." Harry stared at the lizard-like creature he was holding. "And how about we start with finding this one's home?"

A chittering from his side had Harry raising his eyebrows at the squirrel now curled up on his lap amidst a nest of vines and leaves and – funnily enough – an irritated looking rabbit. Harry wondered where the creature had hopped from. He distinctly remembered his lap being taken over by the lone squirrel and some vines only.

"Oh, you don't like that? Would you like us to come see your home first?"

The squirrel nodded its head, jumping high and grabbing onto the abandoned branch that the lizard creature had landed from.

"I guess it's decided then," Harry stated. "We'll be visiting our little squirrel's home first on this trip."

The wizard gave the assembled animals a sweeping glance. "Thanks for coming to visit me! I'll, um, see you around I guess!"

The prey within the company immediately took leave. Harry stared at the act in puzzlement, even as he repositioned the lizard creature onto his now free shoulder and gently tugged away the plants still clinging to him.

 _The pact to be in harmony is only relevant around you. Beyond that, nature resumes its laws._ Hedwig stated into his mind as though that explained everything.

Harry blinked. "Um, why prey in particular? Can't the predators leave first?"

_Would you prefer the prey to be left trapped as the predators spread about the area, little one?_

Harry grimaced, getting the point as images of bloodied and dead rabbits and deer entered his mind. "Ah. I see. No. Prey leaving first is logical."

The emerald eyed teen glanced about the vast forest with a sigh, even as he started to follow the direction of the excited squirrel he had befriended.

"This visit is going to take a long time," he thought. A thought crossed his mind and the boy frowned.

"Hedwig?"

 _Yes?_ The owl responded from where she was – and had been through the entire morning – comfortably perched on his right shoulder.

"You and the plants did not use this opportunity to extend my stay here in the forest by any chance, did you?"

Harry felt sensed his familiar's guilt crashing into his mind.

_…Maybe?_

Harry sighed.

"You, crazy, crazy lot…"

He was not going to get angry, Harry decided as he stared at the jumping squirrel ahead of him. Between the branches he could still make out the full moon from the night before. It was faded in the lightening sky but still visible.

"It's too early in the morning to be angry anyways." 

* * *

An indignant "Hey!" rang across a particularly dense and misty part of the Amazon rainforest. The owner of the voice – a man with shoulder-long dark hair – glared from the ground, where had been unceremoniously dumped with two redheads, at the subject of his ire. The subject in question – a stunning fire phoenix – trilled in amusement and flew off to disappear inside a giant waterfall, abandoning its companions without so much as a backward glance in the process.

"Hey!" Sirius shouted in indignation again. "You can't just dump up us down here and then leave!"

But his outrage was a few seconds too late. The avian had already vanished into the water.

"Sirius get off me," Fred who was at the very bottom of the pile groaned out. "You weigh a ton, man!"

A series of pops sounded around the trio as the two teenagers and one adult found their footing.

"Why the heck did Fawkes just fly through a waterfall, though?" George muttered as he dusted his robes while sending a nod in greeting to his nearest goblin.

"Because that waterfall is in truth a border. It is the gateway to the magically protected part of Amazon. Any being who is not a creature or plant cannot cross over this threshold without magic's permission. The phoenix can only bring you this far humans."

Looks of understanding dawned on the humans surrounded by the goblins.

"That makes sense. Thanks," George gave the goblin who answered his question a polite smile.

"Don't mention it," said goblin – who happened to be the unspoken leader of their group – curtly replied.

"So, is there anything we have to do in order to get through to the other side?" Sirius asked, observing the way the water impacting with the ground seemed to be the cause for the mysterious mist that was surrounding the area. The man faintly detected some traces of magic in the mist too. Sirius supposed that was what repelled muggles away.

"A simple test," the goblins leader answered. "You have to walk through the water one by one after stating your intentions. If your intentions will bring no form of harm or distress to those that live within the forest, and if you are deemed honest and trustworthy, you will be allowed to pass. If you pass and walk through, but betray the trust entrusted in allowing you entrance once within the forest, you will be most brutally evicted with a life-long ban. If you successfully hurt any within the forest for any purposed other than survival, your actions will be reciprocated onto you. That is to mean you cut any being, plant or creature, selfishly, you will be bestowed with the same injury on your body. You kill one, you won't make it out alive."

Sirius, Fred and George stared at their goblin companions.

"Merlin," Fred breathed. "What if you accidentally hurt something? Like you didn't see a bug in your way. What then?"

The goblin leader gave the red-headed teen an approving look.

"Not a bad question, human. Perhaps you have some sense of self-preservation. That kind of matters does not bring the forest's wrath upon you. You have to purposefully harm another being within the forest out of true intentions of harming them. That is when you will be punished."

Sirius, Fred and George nodded their understanding.

"Also, never try to bring out any of the forest's own without permission. That constitutes a violation against the trust."

Sirius stilled.

"What about my godson?"

The goblin leader turned his attention to the Azkaban escapee.

"He is officially a ward of the forest, Lord Black. If you wish to take him away, magic must bless the leaving. For that to happen, your godson must come with you willingly. Will he do that?"

Sirius' face seemed to crumble slightly with insecurity. Fred and George exchanged a glance.

"Give us a few minutes please?" Fred asked politely before following after his twin who had steered the lost man further away from their company. The goblins all gave a curt nod and went to have their own discussions.

"Sirius, get a grip on, man. Harry would never refuse to live with you," George whispered reassuringly.

"I'm not quite confident of that notion," Sirius muttered back despondently.

Fred sighed. "Why not?"

"A hunch," the man muttered, his eyes glazing over slightly as though he were recalling some memories.

Fred and George narrowed their eyes.

"What do you mean?"

Sirius, slightly startled out of his depressing musings by the twins' chorused question, let his head fall onto his hands.

"It's the magic! Fawkes mentioned something about a guardian changing. And now the goblins say Harry is a ward of the forest! I didn't get it back in Grimmauld but I have a feeling it means something within the forest has taken over Harry's guardianship. If that is true – then – then I don't really have a chance, do I?" the man whispered brokenly.

The Weasley twins wrapped the man in a brief hug.

"No. You have a chance. The goblins likely meant that the forest has accepted Harry as one of its inhabitants Sirius, what with how long he has lived in it and not gotten himself kicked out," Fred assured.

"Besides, the goblin said as long as Harry wants to come back home, he can come with you," George pointed out. "That means it depends on Harry and you making him realise you want him with you. That you are there for him as the godfather."

"But what if he doesn't want to come?" Sirius asked. "You said it yourself, Harry has been here for a month. A month. He didn't come back. Doesn't that mean he –"

" – We don't know that!" Fred cut in frantically. "Come on Sirius, he was injured when he escaped his monstrous relatives. Maybe, maybe he can't get out of here by himself. And – and –"

"And he may be needing his godfather more than ever to come save him and remind him that even if the stupid Dursleys don't know his worth, you do," George saved his stumbling twin in assuring the man. "Sirius, even if by chance Harry doesn't want to leave, it doesn't mean you can't be with him. You can choose to stay."

Both Sirius and Fred looked at George in surprise.

"What? It's true. Ultimately, you want to be with Harry. Take care of him like how you were supposed to have ever since Harry lost his parents. You can do that in a forest too, you know."

Sirius continued to stare in bewilderment at George. Fred meanwhile was slowly sprouting a Cheshire grin.

"That's brilliant!"

"It – It is?" Sirius asked dazedly.

"Yeah!" Fred exclaimed. "Think about! If the worst-case scenario is Harry refusing to go back, you can choose to stay with him – which I don't think Harry would mind, considering he really looked forward to living with you ever since you had offered it. And as long as you adhere to the laws of the forest, you won't be kicked out and nobody can try to remove you and Harry too! Not even Dumbledore or the Ministry. Which means –"

"That I can actually live with my godson without fearing separation or stupid Ministry jurisdictions," Sirius muttered, finally cottoning on. "And it won't be bad. I mean it's bound to better than living on the streets or in Grimmauld."

"Exactly," the twins chorused.

Sirius finally managed a smile. "Yeah. That is brilliant."

"So we good to go?" George inquired, gesturing towards the goblins who were politely waiting for the trio to head back.

Sirius nodded. "Yes. Thanks, by the way."

"Anytime Sirius. Anytime," Fred gave the man a small pat on the shoulder.

"Alright," Sirius exhaled, turning to the goblin leader as he and the twins neared the goblins. "Thank you for waiting. We're ready. Lead us on." 

* * *

Harry wheezed as he ran out of breath from laughter. His sides cramped lightly from the strain but the young teen could not stop his giggles.

The wizard gasped and stood up straight. Took in the sight of a soaked Pale Pink and Hedwig. He burst into laughter again.

"Oh, that was glorious!" the boy rasped out, falling onto the floor as he lost his balance. The lizard-like creature he had followed waddled out of the river and climbed atop his chest, uncaring of how it was dampening his shirt.

"I think you've officially become my favourite," Harry stated as he finally gained his composure. He had to stifle another round of laughter as his statement seemed to raise Hedwig's and Pale Pink's indignation and ire. Those two were clearly possessive of him.

"You're a little prankster, aren't you? That's the third time you've tricked poor Pale Pink and Hedwig today." The teen stared at the creature, running a finger lightly atop the horns decorating its body. The purr that it emitted brightened Harry's smile.

"I'm going to name you Puck," the wizard declared, recalling the name from a Shakespeare play he had read in his primary school. He remembered the name belonged to a sprite that rather revelled in chaos and mischief. A wave of joy from the being signalled that the water creature was happy with the name.

A nudge from both his sides had the teen rolling his eyes in annoyance though his smile gave away that he was jesting.

"Oh alright, alright. I haven't forgotten about you two. And don't pout, I like you two very much too. Don't need to be jealous."

The owl and flower, reassured by his words, hopped onto his chest, joining their new friend.

"Oh what am I now? A convenient pillow?"

Hedwig had the gall to nod.

_Dry me and the flower, please youngling. It is rather uncomfortable to be so damp._

Harry sighed. "I don't have my wand, Hedwig."

_Ask Magic. Magic can be supported._

Harry frowned. "Um…what?"

_Forest likes Harry. Magic likes Harry. Magic helps._

Harry blinked. "I'm afraid I don't follow, Pale Pink."

Hedwig, tiring of Harry's slow intelligence at the matter, gave him an unimpressed look.

_The forest is magical, young one. And it likes you. It is possible for its Magic to aid you in doing magic without your wand. But you must ask if you wish to seek._

Harry could almost see the capital 'M' given to the first 'Magic' that Hedwig referred to. His mind got confused again at how his owl and the flower seemed to use the word "magic" with different references. He really had no idea of what his owl familiar was saying but he got the most important part message. He could get help to do magic. The teen opened his mouth to do as suggested but then paused.

"But, what about the ministry? I can't do magic outside of school."

_No such matters matter here, youngling._

Harry blinked. Oh. Well, why did nobody say that earlier?

"Um, forest? Magic?" Harry called out experimentally, feeling foolish for the second time that day. For some reason, chewing mint suddenly seemed like a much less embarrassing activity to him.

"I need some help in drying my friends. Help me please?"

Harry stared at his surroundings then back at his companions. "Um I don't think it works– "

He was cut of as a sudden gust of wind picked up around him.

"What the?!" Harry had to take care not to displace his companions as he jerked up into a sitting position. He gently repositioned his familiar and little Puck onto his lap as Pale Pink slithered onto his legs by its own means.

The wind circled around him gently. _~Follow~_ A musical voice whispered in his mind. Harry felt his own magic rise in response to its presence. A beat later, he watched in awe as he felt a string of his magic reach outward with a clear intent to complete his desire as it followed the wind that had shifted to circle his wet owl and flower friend. Both Hedwig and Pale Pink gradually became dry. The wet spot on his shirt – a souvenir for letting his soaked companions rest on him – also vanished in a blink.

The wind expanded to circle him once more and then died down with a last whistle.

"Oh wow."

 _You can learn to do that yourself, you know, youngling. It is not unheard of to do magic without wands._ Hedwig fluttered up to land on his right shoulder, which by this point had become her territory of some sorts.

Harry stared at his familiar in amazement.

"But wandless magic is said to be difficult to do," he breathed out, still reeling from the simple but powerful display of magic he witnessed. His mind had trouble processing that his own magic had actually worked without a wand and simply with the aide of the mysterious wind.

Pale Pink's voice danced across his mind.

 _Magic will teach you Harry_.

Harry noted absently that the flower's voice was almost as clear as Hedwig's. He idly wondered when that had happened. He had been too busy to notice the change before.

"It will?" Harry asked in surprise.

_If you want it to._

Harry frowned. "But I have Hogwarts though."

 _Will they teach you to touch your own magic without wands?_ Pale Pink was very curious if the waves of interest coming from the tiny thing any indication.

"Um no," Harry muttered. "Probably not. I don't think so."

_Then learn here. A predator is foolish to choose to leave its claws blunt._

Harry frowned at the flower. "Eh what now?"

 _Nature laws._ Hedwig supplied, seemingly finally coming to the understanding that her human thought very differently from the creatures and plants still innately connected to nature. _Any being who wishes to survive knows that it has to hone its skill to survive at every opportunity. Your magic is your defence and offence, youngling. You should not let go of opportunities to learn to use it better._

"Huh," Harry mused, lying back onto the ground. His companions moved back to claim his chest as their resting ground, with Pale Pink gently relocating little Puck who had fallen asleep while the flower and owl had started conversation with Harry.

"But I have to return to Hogwarts eventually. What would happen to the lessons then?"

_Earth everywhere. You seek. It gives._

"Hmm…"

Harry had to admit he was getting slightly confused as to what exactly his companions were referring to anymore. The forest or the magic in the atmosphere. He supposed the magic within the atmosphere would make more sense.

"It fits magic being everywhere too," the teen thought. "Hogwarts had always seemed sentient to some extent."

_You should learn. There is nothing bad in it._

Harry gave his owl an amused glance. "You seemed to have decided that I'm staying here for the rest of the two weeks of summer."

Hedwig gave another one of her owl shrugs.

_You can learn it in the forest or anywhere else. Earth is everywhere. Magic listens._

Harry sighed. "You guys are confusing you know?" The teen started to rub his familiar's head absently. "Ok, I'll learn alright? I'll try my best. What with the whole Voldemort situation, it seems to only be practical to 'sharpen my claws', as you put it."

_Wise youngling. You will survive if you think like that._

"I have thought like this before," Harry murmured. "Back at the Dursleys hiding and fleeing was the best skill I had to fight for survival. And I always did make sure I hid well and ran fast. I suppose with magic I slackened because it was simply a symbol of safety…"

 _Nothing is all safe and nothing is all good, youngling. Purge such beliefs._ Hedwig advised softly, butting her head against his chin lightly in admonishment.

Harry chuckled at the care and mothering.

"Yes, mum. I will." Harry promised.

"You are – as strange as it sounds – right, Hedwig. The world is grey, after all," Harry thought.

The teen gently took gestured to his companions to get off and clambered to his feet, cradling a still snoozing Puck.

"Ok, enough of this serious talk. Let's explore a bit more. I'd really like to see more creatures."

His initial shock had dimmed as he had trudged through the forest with his companions. Now his curiosity was slowly piquing and Harry would be lying if he said that he did not wonder what it would be like to approach all these new creatures he had glimpsed from nearby. Even without magic, some of them had been simply magnificent.

"Right or left?" Harry stared at his surroundings. "Let's go left, I have a good feeling about it."

The teen started walking, chatting about lighter matters with his companions. 

* * *

Sirius stilled, attracting the attention of his companions.

"Are you alright, Lord Black?"

The man did not answer. He was too panicked by the blind panic running through his mind. Panic that was not his.

"Sirius?" Fred asked in concern as the man let out a strangled gasp.

"I feel panic," Sirius muttered confusedly. "But it's not mine?!"

The goblins around him tensed.

"What? What is it?" George asked, noticing the tension the goblins had.

"This is one of the world's most magical places, wizards. And so much ambient magic often strengthens beings that walk amongst it. That can refer to any bonds one has. I'm sure you have felt you two have each felt the other's presence to be much more pronounced ever since you walked through the gateway?" The lead goblin – who had revealed his name as Agrak a few minutes before – directed to the twins.

George nodded. He had felt that but he had waved it off as his own nerves causing him to seek out his brother more. From the corner of his eyes, he felt Fred nodding too.

"It is likely that Lord Black, what you are feeling is simply your godson's emotions. Amplified through your bond with him that is more active now within the forest."

"We need to hurry then!" Sirius urged. "Harry is not fine to be in so much of panic. Is there a faster way to get to him?"

The goblins in the group glanced at each other.

"No. We do not know his exact location to be able to track him down that fast."

Sirius frowned, worry etched across his face. Beside him, Fred perked with a sudden thought.

"What if we can track his exact location though?"

George, understanding his twin's line of thought gasped. "The tracking device! Of course!"

* * *

Sirius huddled over the goblins kneeling on the ground, muttering at a map of the magical forest.

"Well?"

"Your godson is at the very heart of the forest," Karnog - the specialist in expedition Sirius and the twins were told - replied. "Usually it would take at least four days to get there from where we are."

"And now?" Fred asked.

"With the right preparations, we can land near him by evening today," the goblin replied. "Considering the young heir does not move away too far by then."

"Great. Then let's start the preparations," Sirius muttered. The panic had long settled and calmed from what he could feel but the man rather not waste time. This was likely not going to be the only time Harry was going to be in danger if he remained by himself in the forest.

"Alright. You humans give us space to work then," Agrak replied in his surly voice.

Sirius sheepishly backed away from where he had been hovering.

* * *

Harry cursed his luck.

"Should have just gone the other way," he thought as he stumbled against a root. A feral growl from behind him had the teen sprinting fast. He could sense his newest companion, little Puck, shaking in fear from where it was perched on his shoulder. Pale Pink who wrapped around wrist seemed to be in no better optimism.

Harry frowned, determination strengthening in him. He was not going to let the poor things die anytime soon and that meant he had to ensure he would not get caught. The teen ran faster, dodging through trees to keep the beast chasing him from getting a chance to pounce on him.

Up ahead, his familiar – who had taken to the air to lessen his burden – gave a warning hoot.

A think vine dropped ahead of where Harry was heading. The teen jumped but knew even as he did that he wouldn't make to the help. He could hear the best pouncing from behind him.

_Seek and you will get_

Hedwig's words from before flashed across his mind.

"Magic! Help! Please?" His hysterical voice rang through the woods.

This time, the aid was instantaneous. A wind immediately came alive the teen and Harry soon found himself perched up on the sturdiest and highest branch of the tree that had sent down a vine to help in.

His immediate thought was about his companions. The wizard held out his hand, letting the blue lizard creature crawl onto his palm. Pale Pink untangled itself from his wrist to curl around Puck itself, in attempt to both reassure and seek assurance.

"We're fine now," Harry murmured. He brushed his fingers against the two beings. The wind around him whistled slightly. Harry felt his magic rise up in response and reach out towards his companions, feeding itself into them to calm them down. His eyebrows rose in shock but he did not stop his magic.

"Thank you," he whispered gratefully to the helpful wind. The matter whistled cheerfully before disappearing.

"Are you lot ok?" Harry asked. A few strings of assurance from the beings calmed down Harry's own concern.

A flutter of wings alerted to him that Hedwig had returned. The snowy owl landed on his shoulder and started preening his hair, sending waves of concern over to Harry.

"I'm fine Hedwig. Thanks for directing us from the air," Harry murmured, petting his owl with his free hand and discreetly checking she was alright. He knew nothing had likely harmed his familiar while she was flying but he needed the assurance after the scare.

"Next time, you guys pick our direction," Harry huffed in exhaustion.

The teen settled himself more comfortably onto the branch. He sensed the leaves around him lean slightly closer to him. A glance around confirmed that vines were starting to climb up his current tree, snaking their way towards him. The teen also caught glimpses of coloured feathers and bushy tails from nearby branches that were too frequent to be natural, alerting him that some animal company could be potentially expected. Harry sighed but it was more out of relief rather than exasperation. The concern and company were truthfully soothing after the fright he had endured for the past ten minutes. The teen let himself relax at the touch of the twisting and twining creepers around him. In a few seconds, his left arm was back to being a decorated mess like when he had been living in the Haven.

The teen cautiously peered down to the ground. Now that his friends were fine, he was curious to know what happened to their hunter. To his surprise, the thing was strangely held captive by thick vines, with all its limbs tied together in what looked like a really tight knot. Even its snout was clamped shut with vines.

Despite the scare the thing had put him through, Harry felt a twinge of pity at seeing the being in its now helpless state. Getting a good look at it now, he could see scratches and scars dotting all over its body. Harry had a feeling most of those were self-inflicted during its monthly night of madness.

A feeling of being watched had the teen seeking out the creature's amber eyes. As he expected it was giving him a most fearsome glare. A muffled growl escaped it. Harry felt little Puck scamper from his palm, traveling up his shoulder to settle on his head. The next thing he knew, the little creature was nestling itself under his hair, shaking in fear. He absently sent a string of his magic to it, mimicking what he had been taught a few moments before by the magical wind.

"I'm sorry," he meanwhile directed to the werewolf trapped beneath the tree he was seeking refuge from. "But I'll help let you out ounce you regain you human form. The moon should disappear in a few minutes…"

The creature growled more, struggling against its restraint. Harry winced when one vine actually got snapped. It was quickly replaced with more however.

The teen bit his lip, taking to glancing at the werewolf and the fading moon from his branch residence. The minutes seem to take forever even though he knew that was only because he was anticipating the moon's disappearance.

A small pur of contentment from Puck – who had finally calmed down after a few more doses of Harry's magic – had the wizard child wondering.

"What if…."

Harry reached out once more for his magic. The task was getting easier the more he did it. Harry was surprised by this considering he had only done it for a handful of times in that very day. Taking some of his magic, the boy threw is out and downwards, aiming clearly at the werewolf trapped below. The creature seemed to sense the incoming magic, for it struggled more against its binds, obviously thinking it was getting attacked. It still however, when the magic touched its skin.

Harry wondered if he imagined the surprise in its eyes. But overall, he was glad that his magic had done what he intended for it to do. He sensed a calm settle over the creature and for the first time since he had met it, he could sense a link between it and him.

"I wonder if it'll disappear when the moon disappears and the human regains his mind," Harry thought internally.

Outwardly, he tried to reassure the still werewolf. "Calm down. Like I said, you'll be free when the moon disappears."

On cue, a slight rippling started to go across the creature's body. Harry's head shot up heavenwards. He was met with a clear blue sky. The moon had vanished.

Down below the werewolf morphed itself back into a man. Harry could only vaguely note the man had blue eyes before his brain registered that said man was as naked as a new born babe. Harry averted his eyes, red creeping up his neck.

"Eek! Can somebody cover him?" Harry squeaked in mortification. To his horror, his embarrassment seemed to raise his newest companion's curiosity and he felt Puck move to catch a glimpse of the man below, fear forgotten. Harry's hands automatically snatched up the tiny being and cradled it against his chest, making sure to keep the being's eyes away from seeing what was below their tree.

Creature or human, Puck was still a baby from what Harry had learnt and Harry was not having it seeing a naked human just yet.

A passing vine dragged over a large fern over the man's lower body.

"Have you never seen someone naked, pup?"

Harry looked back down to the ground at the deep and rough voice, slightly startled.

"Um, not really. No," Harry squeaked again.

To the teen's ire, amusement danced across the man's face.

"It's not funny!" he snapped.

"No. It's not," the man replied solemnly but a quirk in his lips betrayed him. Harry huffed in annoyance.

"So, what is a pup like you doing out in a dangerous forest?" the man inquired, taking a cursory glance of Harry. Harry had a feeling the man was genuinely surprised and somewhat confused at what he saw. Then again, Harry supposed anyone would be confused and surprised at seeing a teenager in ripped muggle clothing in the middle of the forest with an owl, a lizard and clingy plants.

He wondered if the man was in touch with wizarding matters. He knew from what Hedwig and the plants told him that the Ministry and wizarding affairs could not enter or influence the forest. So Harry supposed he could be somewhat to stranger.

"Not everything. But somethings," Harry corrected himself, glad his hair was already covering his scar. One could not just be too sure nowadays.

"Oh I kind of am living here temporarily," Harry answered casually. "You?"

The man – still tied down on the ground by vines – chuckled. "I've been living here for years, pup."

"Ah, I see. Nice to meet you."

"So what happened to your home?"

"Didn't have one honestly."

"Oh, so you were in the streets?"

"No."

"Orphanage?"

"No."

The man raised an eyebrow.

"You could call it a prison of some sorts."

"So, you're a run away."

"If that's what you want to call it," Harry answered. Truthfully, Harry supposed he was plant-napped. The plants had transported him over without asking, even though it had been a good thing they did.

"Hmm…Say you planning to let me go, pup?"

Harry paused.

"Let him go please."

The vines to the man's obvious surprise untied their knots and retracted themselves back into the forest.

"Handy trick," the man muttered, rubbing his wrists where marks could be seen from how tightly bound, he had been.

"So, what is your name?" Harry asked, tired of referring the stranger as 'the man' in his mind.

Blue eyes narrowed at the boy. "Are you into wizarding politics?"

Harry blinked at the random question.

"No. Not really." Sure, he was sometimes caught in the middle of the politics since he was a famous person in the wizarding world but Harry was not interested in it. Never was. Never will be.

"I'm taking you are muggle-born, aye."

"Hmm, not exactly," Harry answered. "I'm muggle-raised. Now stop deflecting my question. What's your name?"

"Fenrir," The man said slowly, as though gauging for Harry's reaction. "Fenrir Greyback."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I oop-  
> Who would have thought? Fenrir Greyback. Of all people that werewolf had to be...
> 
> Leave a comment and a kudos if ya can will ya? Share your thoughts! I'd love to know what you think of the story. Or anything on the language that can be improved maybe?


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Compared to my other fics, this one sure moves fast...  
> Oh no...did I jinx it by mentioning that?  
> Welp. I hope not...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, this is turning into a pro Dark fic lmao...At least pro dark creatures fic with the way harry's making friends...  
> But honestly, what do you think Voldemort will do now? Is he even sane for this fic?   
> Wait... I'm the author...  
> haiz  
> hmmm....  
> Hmm...I'm getting ideas...someone stop me...

* * *

Harry was starting to believe that he had really lost his mind. Even waking up to hear plants talking to him had never brought such conviction to the notion before.

But this – this situation – certainly had merits to question his sanity more than anything else that has happened in his life.

He _must_ have lost his mind.

Honestly, there was no other explanation as to why he was sitting around with a pack of werewolves who were so obviously allied to Voldemort without bolting. And what was worse was that he enjoyed their company. Surprisingly enough, while they had made their alliances clear, they were not like any of the Dark Lord's followers he had encountered before. There was no spouting of the Dark side's ideals and goals, no threatening made to his life as the Boy-Who-Lived and not even one accusation that he was on the wrong side of the war.

The pack as they called themselves were truthfully rather hospitable to him.

Harry knew why they were like that and the reason honestly inspired no trust in the people he was surrounded by, but he was too relieved by the temporary neutrality to bother thinking of what ifs. He was not that privileged to count his blessings so he really would rather take what he was given gladly.

_"This is a magical forest, pup. It is beyond the jurisdiction of humans and their politics. As long as you and I remain within the boundaries of this forest, my pack will not harm you. The rule is quite simple here. You do what you do to survive naturally. Don't drag human philosophies into it. That's all."_

_Harry blinked and tilted his head at the infamous werewolf. Beside the man, a younger man with brown hair and hazel eyes – Rucas Rosewood, Harry's mind supplied, recalling the introduction from a few minutes before – spoke up for the first time since Harry had hastily climbed up the nearest tree at realising exactly who he had followed into the werewolf village._

_"We mean it, child. We are not going to lie about our allegiance but neither are we going to act on it in the forest either. You can come down. If need be, we can provide an oath to prove our word."_

Harry blamed his Gryffindor for this situation honestly.

He gave a sigh.

A small smile lit his face as he felt a poorly made flower crown being placed onto his head. The pudgy hands that did the deed clapped in delight when Pale Pink wrapped itself around the fragile crown and suddenly sprouted various different flowers along its vines.

"Hawwy pretty," stated Ruby – the youngest of the were-children who were currently gathered around him. The words from the three-year-old sparked a round the group of snickering among the other five children.

Harry rolled his eyes but the smile of his lips betrayed the amusement he was feeling. Truthfully speaking, he was rather enjoying spending time with these kids. They only cared that he played with them. Unlike the older werewolves, they were unconcerned about allegiances and war.

He envied the innocence _yet_ at the same time was grateful for it.

"Yes. Yes. You've said that for about three times already, Ruby," he gave a mock sniff. The little girl simply clapped her hands in delight again and repeated the words. Harry sighed and pulled her onto his lap, laughing with the others as she squealed when the plants decorating Harry's arm tickled her sensitive skin.

"Alright, how about we change to stories now instead of decorating my poor self?"

The eager excited grins around him had him internally sighing in relief at having escaped more decorations. He had had too many flowers, vines and leaves decorating him already. He did not need more.

* * *

"We are getting worried, Rucas. Have you changed allegiances since meeting the boy?"

Rucas Rosewood turned to see the expectant faces of his pack members around him and he raised an eyebrow at the rather random topic.

"Well, I can assure you I most certainly have not switched to the supposed Light side but pray tell where you got these deluded notions, Amber?"

The woman who asked him the question had the decency to blush at questioning him but shrugged nonetheless.

"You've bee rather too friendly to the kid. I know we are not going to fight within the forest boundaries but you do not need to mollycoddle him. I bet the brat receives it enough from his home."

The words were said in a rather neutral tone but there was a slight resentment hidden under them.

Rucas' eyes narrowed. He knew the pack had their rights to feel bitter towards the wizarding world in general due to the poor rights they've been dealt with. He would admit he felt it himself when thinking of all those people who live their comfortable, secure lives as completely _normal, human_ wizards and witches. But he also knew that was only a generalised view. There were exceptions who could be deservedly excused from his resentment. And he did not take it kindly when his fellow packmates were willingly blind to such exceptions – especially when they had the means to recognize the truth.

And werewolves who were blessed with sharp senses have the means to spot the truth of neglect and abuse quite well.

His eyes travelled around the assembled faces who were waiting for his reply and rested on their pack leader. He was happy internally to see that Fenrir _knew_. The amber-black eyes set within the beastly face of the man shone with understanding with Rucas' actions' reasons and seem to say 'Go ahead. Enlighten the fools'.

Never before had Rucas been glad his alpha actually was just as intelligent as he was sometimes foolishly reckless and vengeful.

Rucas' gaze shifted back to the packmate who was questioning him.

"No. He does not."

Confused whispering broke out around him and he did his best to withhold rolling his eyes.

"Seriously? Are all of you that daft? I didn't expect prejudice to blind you lot of all people."

"What do you mean?" Amber asked.

Rucas raised an eyebrow.

"Have you really not caught scent of the healing herbs that is currently wrapped around his body? Do you not sense the freshness of them? Or the heaviness of it, indicating that the herbs have been applied either extensively or over a long period of time or even both?"

Clarity had yet to descend upon the assembled adult werewolves.

"Think. Exactly when have we used herbs so regularly on our pups and why?"

A moment of silence and then shock filled the faces around him.

"No way, Rucas! He can't be _abused_! He's the bloody icon for them Light lovers!" The shout of denial from the back of the pack received many supportive echoes from those present.

"Really?" Rucas' voice had gone cold. The surrounding group – excepting Fenrir – flinched. It was a well known fact amongst the pack that Rucas Rosewood – former Healer apprentice at St Mungos before his identity as a werewolf was revealed – was not someone who tolerated idiots. And with the way he was staring at his pack members currently, it was obvious he regarded each and everyone of them as fools.

"Then explain this. Accio diagnostics!"

A rolled-up parchment flew into the man's hands. He tossed it at the pack. Amber caught it in her arms. When unrolled, the people nearby could see the parchment was rather long.

Amber read out the contents. Her voice started loud and clear but eventually softened as the horrifying truth of what she read sunk into her mind. Nevertheless, every werewolf assembled heard her with their sharp hearing.

"Explain to me, why that parchment clearly spells out abuse for the child? He has obviously been starved and neglected from the looks of things."

"Wh – when did you do the test?"

Rucas shrugged.

"While he was first getting introduced to the pups. I found it too suspicious that the boy-who-lived of all people just appeared in the one magical forest that was known for being untouchable by meddling humans. And what's more funny is he is alone and seemed to display not much worry of being missed. The fact that he is covered in healing herbs' scents made me all the more curious so I cast it while he was distracted by the kids. As you well know this spell does not show signals of being cast on unsuspecting patients and considering it is only for retrieving the medical history of someone it is harmless so I had no qualms in casting it. His magic did not lash out on me nor did he notice."

Rucas gave the people around a glare.

"Are your doubts cleared now?"

His surrogate family shuffled in their spots in guilt.

"Who would have done this to him though?" Amber's voice was still shaky. "It's started since he was a year old, which means right after his parents' deaths."

Rucas grimaced.

"I do not know. From what Fenrir recounted, he admitted to be muggle-raised, so I suspect it was these muggle guardians of his."

"I can't believe those wizards would just leave the boy like that. I mean, he is their supposed Saviour! What utter bastards!"

Rucas shrugged, returning to the task he was doing before had been interrupted to be questioned.

"I guess people don't discriminate in who they discriminate."

A heavy silence descended upon the group.

"Is that for Potter?" Amber's voice cut across the silence.

Rucas nodded, finishing his task by placing the package he had been assembling into a satchel that was spelled to be lightweight.

"The kid said he was going to go back to exploring the forest come afternoon. Might as well provide him with cooked food since I doubt living on just fruits for the rest of his uncertain stay in the forest is going to be pleasant. I reckon it would last him for at least five days if he rations it and stays that long."

Rucas picked up the parcel, turning to look at his family with a small, sad smile.

"We are likely going to be on the opposite end of the battle field with him in the future. Likely going to add more to the suffering he probably has gone through and he is probably going to do the same to us when he fights.

But right now, he is simply a teenage boy who has run away from abuse to find safety and we are simply a pack of societal rejects who have lived in this forest for years for that same safety. Right now, that boy is truthfully more kindred spirit than a foe. I reckon, giving him food and truce is not going to shift the tides of the war on any side."

And with that, Rucas Rosewood left the group of adults he was surrounded in silence, heading to find the unexpected guest that was in the werewolf territory.

* * *

Harry stared as the werewolf village – as he had taken to call the territory – vanished as he stepped out of the threshold of their wards. A strange feeling rose in his chest at the sight.

_Next time I see them, we are likely to be pointing wands and exchanging curses._

Giving a rather melancholy sigh internally, he turned away and led Pale Pink, who had decided to return to its position around his wrist, lead him elsewhere. From his shoulder Hedwig gave him a soothing hoot and combed his hair with her beak.

Harry paused. He felt little Puck clamber down from his head to rest on his other shoulder, curious like his other companions about why he had stopped.

"I – I don't feel like exploring much, you guys. Let's go back to the sanctuary, please?"

In other words, Harry had meant that they should change directions to head back to his temporary home. His companions interpreted it differently, unfortunately. Therefore, Harry had not been prepared for what happened next at all.

The ground below his feet opened up. The shock was so great for the teen he did not even get time to shout out as his instinct was screaming at him to do. Thus a beat of silence later, in which he had simply hovered on air, the young wizard plummeted downwards.

And the earth swallowed him up.

* * *

Harry blinked as he felt himself ejected upwards in a gentle yet firm manner that reminded him of the times he kicked off a broom to fly. He looked around confused, blinking away the disorientation he was feeling.

For a few seconds after being swallowed up by the earth, all he could see was brown. Strangely, he had been able to breathe and move fine as he felt his rather brown surrounding morph around him. Rather belatedly, he theorized that perhaps it had been him who moving after all and not the earth that had moved around him.

A pat on his head had Harry looking up to a familiar giant tree that was covered in swinging vines.

Harry blinked. Dots connected in his head.

"Oh. _Oh._ That was transportation, I presume?"

From his wrist, Pale Pink gave the flower equivalent of a nod – a habit the flower had picked up from himself, Harry had realized.

"I see."

It was testament to how used Harry was to the surprises of the forest that he did not even twitch at the revelation. Rather he simply shrugged and accepted it.

"Alright. It's really useful. By far the best magical transportation I have experienced. Thanks for transporting me here."

Doing a quick scan to check Hedwig and Puck in particular were fine after the unusual travel, Harry climbed up his safe place and laid down on the makeshift bed of petal and leaves he was provided with.

"I'm going to take a nap now, honestly. This morning was way too eventful for me."

* * *

"Oh, there you are."

Ron glanced up to see Hermione enter his room.

"Why do you seem so surprised?"

"I looked for you here after breakfast but I did not see you here," Hermione muttered in reply.

Ron shrugged. "I may have wandered around a bit first."

"Anyways, what are you doing?" Hermione asked, finally noticing the letters scattered around Ron on his bed. She took a seat on the edge of the bed, picking up a letter near her with curiosity.

Ron didn't reply. A gasp escaped the brunette witch.

"Are – Are these Harry's?" Hermione's voice whispered out.

Ron nodded mutely.

"What are you doing with these?"

"Found the whole trunk in Sirius' room," Ron admitted. "I missed Harry so I took the letters that we've corresponded with him over to read with the replies I have here in my room. It's honestly just made me more depressed."

"Why?"

Ron handed her the letter he was holding on to.

"Read this."

Hermione briefed through the thing.

"It's a combine letter from all of us. Just stating what's been going on with us and all that. With the usual we can't reveal too much because of Dumbledore," she summarised, ending it with a bitter tone at the reminder of their blunder at following the Headmaster's orders.

"I was trying to read it, you know, from Harry's perspective?" Ron murmured. "Stuck at home with abusive muggles, desperate for better company after the shitty school year. It was like reading that letter for the first time when I did that, even though we wrote it together with the others. We sounded like we were having a blast without him, huddled away together in some hidden safehouse that Harry had no idea of."

Hermione deflated at the admission.

"Oh Merlin, he must have felt all alone," she mumbled, tears pooling in her eyes. Ron himself found his eyes feeling mysteriously moist. The redhead wiped them as discreetly as he could manage. For her part, Hermione did not bring attention to his moment of vulnerability.

"I've not been a good friend at all, have I?"

Hermione placed a comforting hand on the redhead's shoulder.

"Neither was I Ron."

Ron shook his head.

"No. You're not that bad, Hermione. Don't you see? I called him attention seeking and fame-addicted! Despite knowing he wore hand-me-down robes that were in a worse state than mine have ever been and despite having _seen_ the bars on Harry's room's windows! I thought – I thought I've only abandoned him last year but the truth is I've abandoned him all these years by not trying hard at all to understand him. I'm his best mate! Yet I did not even _know_ how bad he was surviving!"

Hermione felt her tears flow freely.

"Idiot. You think I did any better. Sure, I stuck by him last year when you were having a phase, Ron but I failed him just like you did all these years. Ron, my parents are dentists! They may not be a regular muggle healers but they have spotted many cases of abuse while treating their clients before. They've taught me Ron, to spot the signs. But I didn't even realise it when it came to Harry! Every single time he flinched when I hugged him, I thought he was just being a _boy_. And the tattered robes and they way he always complains about the Muggles? I was willingly blind to those signs too! I live with muggles! I've seen such cases! But – But I failed him."

Hermione was sobbing silently by now.

Ron wrapped his arm around his best friend.

"We'll make amends, ok? When Harry comes back – and he will come back – we will apologise and grovel at his feet if we need to."

Hermione chuckled weakly.

"I doubt that is going to save us from his temper."

Ron gave a small smile at that.

"No, I doubt it. But I want him to know, that despite getting jealous, I never stopped thinking he was my best friend all those times back. I – I want him to know that Hermione. I know it is probably known without us needing to say it that we care for each other but I'm starting to think maybe Harry needs to hear it. I doubt those muggle pigs ever showed him care or told him all that."

Hermione glanced at Ron in silence, surprised by his perceptiveness in the matter, It was no secret that Ron was often slow on others' emotions.

"You're right. Harry probably doesn't realise it all that we care for him. Sometimes, he is dafter than even you."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Ron butted his head against Hermione in mock affront.

Hermione laughed lightly despite her tears.

"It's true that you're bad with emotions! When Harry comes back, I'll have him back me up for proof if you don't believe me!"

"Dream on, Miss Granger. My best mate would choose my side."

"Well, he's my best friend too so good luck with that Mr Weasley!"

Ron glared at her lightly, but the smile on his lips betrayed his lack of anger.

The two fell into a comfortable silence while Hermione wiped her eyes dry.

"You do realise, don't you, that we'll probably going to have to go against Dumbledore?"

Ron startled at this revelation.

"What? Why?"

Hermione sighed.

"Ron, think about. Dumbledore has been unhealthily interested in Harry ever since he was a baby. _He_ decided to place Harry with the Dursleys and sent him back year after year, despite Harry asking to not go back. You heard your mother. _He_ has been the one who answered all questions about Harry when Harry had yet to return to the wizarding world. And, I've been thinking about it all these past few weeks but don't you think it's strange that Dumbledore has always encouraged Harry when gets into new mysteries each year?" Hermione paused. "It's like – it's like he is – I don't know what exactly he is doing. It's like he is deliberately – "

"Testing him," Ron finished for her, a look of understanding dawning in his eyes.

"What?" Hermione sounded surprised by the suggestion.

"You're right Hermione. He's always had an interest in Harry. He also encourages Harry into all the trouble he get into too. I mean, after first year, instead of reprimanding Harry for almost dying, he was happy that Harry did what he did, wasn't he? I've never thought of it before but it makes sense. I mean, he could not have likely orchestrated any of these adventures, considering he can't control the diary incident with Ginny and Sirius' unpredicted escape, but he never stopped Harry from putting himself from danger did he? Which means he likely wanted to see how Harry would do in these situation, didn't he?"

Hermione nodded.

"Yes. It makes sense." Hermione grew silent for a minute. "But you know Ron, I'm starting to suspect that maybe he did orchestrate some things, after all?'

Ron gave a puzzled look.

"I mean, second year onward is indeed simply fate I would say, but think about first year," Hermione explained. "Is it not odd that three first years could get through all those traps? I mean, only the chess set and perhaps the riddle was truly challenging for us as first years, along with the troll if it had been conscious. Things like the Devil's snare was first year knowledge. Voldemort, who's known to be intelligent, probably breezed through all those traps considering we managed to bypass most of them. And what's more, all this happened on the first year Harry returns to the wizarding world."

Ron paled.

"That's a serious accusation, Hermione." He looked up to meet his best friend's brown eyes. "And it's scary that they make sense. Why would he want to test Harry though? Why know how Harry would react?"

Hermione shrugged.

"I mean, honestly, Hermione he could not have survived all that by himself as a first year. Not to brag but he made it through because he had us partway. Not to mention, at the end of it all was You-Know-Who! What was he thinking? Sending Harry to face that monster? Honestly, by all logical conclusions, Harry should have died had it not been for his mother's sacrifice's protection."

Silence rung in the air at Ron's words. Eerily enough, the two best friends reached a similar frightening thought as Ron's words echoed in both their minds. They stared at each other in horror.

"No way." Ron blanched. "He wouldn't have."

"Yeah…he wouldn't," Hermione agreed shakily.

But neither could shake off the dreadful thought from their minds. A tense silence filled the room.

"Ron?" Hermione started hesitantly after a while.

"Yeah?"

"What if he did?" Hermione asked in a small voice. "That means that Harry could have – Harry might have died that year…"

Ron felt a chill set in his bones. He remembered all the times his best friend had spent in Hogwarts. Suddenly all those adventures that they had gone through together seemed less fun and cool and more deadly and dangerous.

"I – I don't know. I hope not Hermione. I really hope not. But we don't really have a way to confirm it do we?"

Hermione deflated.

"I'm scared. For Harry. If the Headmaster truly does not care for him being alive, then… then what is going to happen to him?"

Ron squeezed Hermione's shoulders.

"We'll protect him, Hermione. We'll – We'll go against Dumbledore like you said. Harry won't die! He has us!"

Hermione nodded, the conviction in Ron's voice driving away her own doubts and fears.

"Yes, he does. And this time round, we'll make sure he is aware of that."

She held onto Ron's hand, a silent promise sealing between the two. They were going to take care of their best friend better when he came back. No matter what.

"Anyways, why were you looking for me?" Ron asked, breaking the resolute silence after a while.

Hermione let go of his hand.

"Oh, I wanted to research. About guardianships in the wizarding world. I thought perhaps we could find something solid to tighten Sirius' claim over Harry or at the very least a fail-safe way to keep Harry away from the Dursleys and Dumbledore."

Hermione paused before continuing.

"And something about those plants that Sirius and Remus mentioned seeing in Harry's room. Ginny believes it may have clues to what happened to Harry. And after hearing Harry ended up in the Amazon forest of all places, I'm inclined to agree. She's already in the library, by the way. Looking up books that we may find useful."

"Ok. I'll research with you guys. Just give me a while. I need to put these letters back in order. I have to return it back to Sirius' room."

"Do you need help?"

"That'd be appreciated Hermione."

The two teens finished up the task within minutes between the two of them.

"Come on," Hermione whispered later from the entrance of Sirius' room to the redhead who was staring forlornly at their missing friend's things. "We have lots to do. We will grovel at Harry's feet for our stupidity when he comes back."

* * *

_"Not Harry! Please not Harry!"_

_Harry reached out to his screaming mother, trying to tell her to stop. To not sacrifice herself for him. But the words seem to die in his throat._

_Then he was facing Cedric's body. Pale, still and very much dead. The boy's eyes however opened up suddenly and stared right through his soul._

_"Take my body back to parents please?"_

_A cruel, accusing expression took over the dead boy's face, making him flinch back involuntarily._

_"It's the least you can do after killing me, Harry Potter."_

_Harry protested silently, trying to tell him he did not mean to do it. He just did not know it was a trap! But again no sound left his lips._

_"Crucio!"_

_He screamed as the torture curse attacked him from nowhere. His body felt as if it were on fire and his nerves strained under the pain._

_'Stop!" His voice finally decided to work. "STOP! PLEASE!"_

Harry gasped awake in terror, shooting up into a sitting position as the nightmare he saw faded away from his mind. A cold ache was present in his chest however and Harry felt very much inexplicably alone and small.

A pressure around his chest almost made him fall into a panic attack but the sense of warmth that followed it stopped his paranoia. He looked down to see the familiar vines of Pale Pink wrapped around his torso. Like the time with the werewolf children, it was sprouting different flowers of many colours and sizes. A beautiful sight after the horrifying nightmare he lived through.

Harry sighed as the cold within him ebbed away.

At least he had these wonderful companions. They were certainly not humans, but these plants and animals caring for him were ironically exactly what he had hoped for in his human relations. Though his desire for companionship had come in a rather unexpected way – and Harry still had no idea _why_ it had come true at this point in his life at all – it was not unwelcome. He was tired of being brushed aside by the people he knew when his usefulness for the year seemed to be over.

A familiar petal brushed against his cheek.

"Yes, Pale Pink?"

A sense of curiosity washed over him.

"Oh, you want to know what I was thinking?"

Affirmation flowed from the bond he had with the flower.

"Just about my life, honestly, Pale Pink."

Harry adjusted himself slightly on the petals he was sitting on. To his surprise the plants around him grew at the movement and the next thing he knew he had a comfortable seat made out of springy leaves and vines. He smiled his thanks.

Once he was comfortable, Pale Pink sent another wave of curiosity through their link.

"What? You want to know about my life?"

The plants all around him seemed to respond in the affirmative this time. Harry chuckled.

"Well, um…I've never recounted it before. But what exactly do you want to know?"

_Everything_

Harry's brows raised.

"Well… that's a lot…"

Harry paused and then sighed.

He supposed there was no harm in telling the plants about his life. It was not like they would be able to spread word about it to anyone and he had a good suspicion that even if they could, they would not. Surprisingly, the plants came off as rather honourable to him.

He chuckled internally at the absurdity of the thought.

"Ok then, settle around. This is a long story."

* * *

Rucas Rosewood sighed for the umpteenth time that day.

"What's gotten into you?"

He looked up at the voice of his alpha. Fenrir's face was rather expressionless but his eyes held a glimmer of worry.

Rucas shrugged.

"I don't know Fenrir. But I'm just sad. With the whole situation of the soon-to-come war, what with the Dark Lord's return and the reality of that kid. I never let it on with the pack but it rather disturbs me to have realised his true situation. Once he leaves this forest, do you think he'll be able to escape those muggle relatives of his again? Surely someone must have known about his neglect!"

Fenrir placed a comforting arm around his friend's shoulders.

"I do not know. But I have confidence that if he were to be forced back, he will escape easily this time round."

Rucas nodded.

"I hope so…"

"I know so," Fenrir countered.

Rucas gave the man a confused look.

"Don't you remember the way all the plants were curling around the boy, Rucas? Tending to him, without he even realising it? I will bet all my galleons, my friend, that _those plants_ are the reason he found his way to this forest of all places. We would know if the Boy-Who-Lived had such unusual companions before. The Wizarding World would have gossiped non-stop about it. But considering that is not the case, this was likely a new development. And as long as those plants continue curling after him, I doubt he will be forced into any abusive environment against his will."

"Oh."

Rucas was surprised he had not thought of that before. Internally, the kind-hearted man's anxiety abated slightly.

"But they are mere plants, though. If things got really sticky, what would the child do?"

"I have thought of that. But after the way those vines bound me this morning, I'm inclined to believe that just because its plants that are with him, it does not really put him in a disadvantaged position. Besides, even a split second of distraction can do wonders for someone hoping to flee or fight their opponent.

"I suppose…"

A small silence ensued before the younger werewolf let out a bitter sigh.

"It's all rather unfair is it not? Here we all are suffering due to bigots and there is that boy suffering under the hands of likely magic hating muggles, despite being on the winning side. I can't even hate him no more after learning the truth. It's almost like neither side of the war is truly living."

The duo fell into silence again, each falling into his own thoughts. But they were soon interrupted when the ground before them opened up rather unexpectedly.

"What the –"

Fenrir pushed his friend back, instincts to protect jumping to the forefront of his mind. He came to a shocked standstill however when a familiar teen shot out from the earth, landing with slightly off balance as his feet reconnected with the earth that had sealed itself up.

"Darn, I really need to practice that."

The two men blinked in disbelief. Meanwhile Harry looked up to greet their puzzled selves.

"Oh hello! I hope I didn't startle you!" The teen gave a sheepish smile.

Rucas recovered first – partly because he sensed that the child was distressed despite his normal tone.

"We'll get over it. Neat trick."

Harry gave a smile at that, for once looking like the teenager he was.

"I know right! I accidentally learnt it after leaving you guys earlier today but I only have done it once so it's still a bit weird – and not to mention spooky – to be swallowed up by the ground. But it's so cool, right? One moment I was so far away and the next I'm just here and –"

Harry paused, realising he was rambling to two almost-strangers. His cheeks turned a dark red.

"Um – sorry. Got carried away for a moment."

Rucas and Fenrir exchanged amused glances.

"It's alright pup. Why did you come here by the way?"

The carefree demeanour in the boy vanished immediately and Fenrir regretted his question, no matter how inevitable it was.

"Oh – Um well, I had a doubt you see. It started because well I was – well," Harry paused, realising he could not exactly tell the two men he was _talking_ to plants who _talked back_. "Well, I was just thinking of life in general you know and like I was thinking of what happened and then some questions which I've never realised cropped up and I'm getting rather confused and concerned and I really need someone who understand magical law and well –" Harry paused, looking hopefully at the two. "Well, you guys are the only humans I can find here and I was hoping you would help?"

A shocked silence stretched between the three.

"Look I know we are supposed to be on opposing sides and all that outside the forest and this is rather forward of me to request but it has nothing to do with gathering information against you or anything –" Harry rambled, interpreting the silence wrongly.

Fenrir held up his hands.

"Woah pup, slow down. We don't mind helping. We were just shocked, that's all."

Harry sighed in relief.

"Oh. Ok."

"So what did you want to know?" Rucas took the lead and settled comfortably onto the ground, looking up at his still-standing companions.

Fenrir and Harry followed him after a beat of hesitation.

"Well…"

* * *

The forest grew dark as the sun started to set in the west. The company of three humans and five goblins gathered in a circle.

"Alright, your godson has wandered around the forest but thankfully he has come back nearby to the first place we tracked him to be. While our calculations are correct, do bear in mind we might not necessarily land exactly where he may be. So be sure to stick with your assigned goblin partner, just in case where ever that we land in may have a wild creature who finds our presence startling and reacts by attacking," the goblin leader stated.

The others nodded.

"Alright, step into the rune circle now. We'll be gone in a few seconds."

The group did as told and within seconds, all of them disappeared in a flash of light.

* * *

Harry supposed a lizard-like creatures were not the worst teacher he had had in his life, as he followed the directions of Puck's friends. It was a rather novel experience to decipher the creatures' instructions and apply it in a fitting way for his human self. He certainly knew the part where one of the creature's had said to 'feel for the current with his tail' was not applicable for him. Harry had to call on his magic for that and the ambient magic in the atmosphere – which he was starting to sense easily – was more than happy to help him too.

So the fifteen-year-old learnt for the first time in his life, to swim by himself in a river, under the guidance of water creatures and thanked the deities above internally that no one was there to see his peculiar situation. Though he had not much problems with it, he reckoned it would be pretty embarrassing to be caught swimming in a river with blue lizards.

It was especially mortifying because he had to take off his clothes – since Hedwig had somehow convinced him he needed to shower after a month (though he could see her point) – which made him feel rather vulnerable. The only reason he was not uncomfortable was because the creatures – unlike humans – had no sense of modesty and therefore found his nakedness not a subject to be puzzled or fussed about.

Of course, the universe had to therefore intervene and make it embarrassing for Harry.

He had been caught up in his thoughts, pondering over matters he had learned from Rucas and Fenrir as he bathed in the waters that were surprisingly warm, when it happened. The magic in the air started rising and he did not realise it. When he did, however, it was rather too late.

In a flash, a group of goblins and humans seemed to appear out of thin air on the riverbank. Harry barely registered the familiar faces of Sirius, Fred and George when to his mortification, the magical disturbance caused by the group's appearance stirred an unnatural wind to blast out in a circle around them, effectively pushing Harry's clothes that were on the riverbank _into_ the river.

"My clothes!" Harry cried out in shock, watching in despair as his tattered hand-me-downs floated away from him rapidly with the river currents.

Silence rung in the clearing, everyone apparently watching the sight of his quickly disappearing clothes with the same disbelief as him. Harry sunk even lower into the river until only his eyes and nose were visible above the water, feeling very much horrified to be naked in front of human company, despite having the water cover him.

He was never going to live this down.

* * *

"No, I'm not getting out of the bloody water! What part of butt naked do you not understand Sirius?!"

He glared at the twins when they dared to snicker at his plight. Sirius meanwhile seem to sigh in exasperation.

"Pup, I 've conjured you some temporary clothes. Just step out the water and wear them!"

"With all of you watching? Are you trying to kill me with embarrassment?"

 _"What is wrong with them seeing him?"_ A nearby friend of Puck's – whom Harry had just decided to call Spots – asked Hedwig who was beside it. Harry's face turned a darker red even though he knew the question was not direct at him. But well, it was about him.

 _"Humans do not show their birth skin to others unless it is their mate."_ was Hedwig's succinct reply.

Harry's blush darkened.

"Honestly, just hide behind the trees or something, Sirius!" He snapped.

Sirius blinked.

"Oh. Right. Sorry I still remember bathing you for Lily and James when you were younger. I forget you've grown sometimes…" Sirius apologised sheepishly.

If possible, Harry's face turned even more red.

"PLEASE JUST HIDE!" he hissed.

The group of snickering twins, amused goblins and apologetic godfather finally did as told, walking away from the river to step behind a line of trees, after Sirius left the conjured clothes by the riverbank. Harry's eyes narrowed, untrusting. Sometimes the twins just could not resist temptation to stop teasing others so he knew he had to be careful.

"Hide me please?" he whispered softly to the air, sending his desired request to the plants around him in his links.

Immediately branches and vines started to move and Harry found a curtain of leaves separating him and his unexpected visitors a few metres from the riverbank. He stepped out of the river and dried himself quickly before dressing, sighing in relief as he felt more secure with clothes on him.

"Thank you!" he muttered out and the curtain of leaves disappeared, getting pulled back into their surrounding trees and nature.

He found his visitors blinking at him in shock at the display. Harry's eyes narrowed at them all.

"Care to tell me why you've come?" he asked. "Because last time I checked, none of you three were quite interested in knowing my business much if the pathetic notes disguised as letters were any indication."

Sirius, Fred and Geroge had the deceny to look ashamed and guilty.

Harry let them stew in their discomfort while he turned his focus on the goblins who were present.

"And hello to you five! My name is Harry Potter. Are you hungry? Would you like something to eat? I have a temporary shelter of sort nearby with food if you need." he welcomed them politely, ignoring the gobsmacked expressions of Sirius and the twins at his complete change in attitude.

The goblin leader seemed deeply amused.

"Greeting, Harry Potter. I am Agrak and these are my fellow colleagues, Karnog, Riptooth, Arguff and Kurgrass. It is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance," Agrak grunted out. "We thank you for the offer but we came prepared with food for ourselves and the humans. But a shelter to rest and talk would be appreciated."

Harry nodded and started to walk off in the direction of his sanctuary.

"Follow me then! It's only a few minutes away."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not gg to lie. I would have a panic attack if the ground sucked me up, transport method or no.  
> That aside, what do yall think? I'm still praying there were no errors in the language ahahahaha
> 
> Leave a comment and a kudos if ya liked the story so far? Thanks!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We finally get to see what Snape has been up to. And boy that man has dug himself a big hole. Now the question is will he fall into it or not...

Severus Snape stilled as a familiar burn shot up his arm. The vial of powdered ashwinder egg he was holding fell to the ground, crashing and shattering as the man's fingers loosened in a momentary lapse of control. He was privately glad that he had moved back to his home in Spinners' End for the summer. No portrait or meddling Headmasters were here to watch him in his rare moment of vulnerability.

Merlin, it had been a month since the whole incident and Potter's disappearance. He had hoped he would get a few more weeks before the magic was finished!

The Dark Lord's mark burnt again, sending another spike of pain up his arm.

He was going to _die_.

Severus had never been surer of this his entire life. Not even when he took on the job to spy for Dumbledore and lie to Voldemort.

But he had obviously lost his mind when he had barged into the Malfoy Manor so foolishly that day. What on earth had possessed him?

Emerald green eyes swam across his mind.

Oh right. That stupid Potter brat.

The image of an old leather-bound book flashed across his mind next.

Oh. Yes.

And _that dratted book_ too.

Severus hurried over to his study that was adjoined to his lab. Rummaging through the drawers, he drew out the mysterious book that had landed in front of him while he had been perusing through the Black library.

_Magical Oaths: True Intents, Bindings and the Faith that is Entrusted Within_

"This is all your fault," Severus spat at the aged book. And despite the childishness, Severus deeply believed in what he said.

Had this bloody book not fell in front of him, intrigued him _and then furthermore_ provided him a perfect way for him to confront the Dark Lord, he would not have acted so garishly Gryffindorish! He would never have gone and challenged the Dark Lord himself to proving his identity!

Come to think about it though, he was rather perplexed by how exactly that book had fallen off the shelf when he had been the only one in the library. And the fact that it was so bloody useful also put Severus on edge.

But he had been too desperate for a solution to bother with the coincidences then. He was losing trust in Albus after the way he was becoming so pathetic at protecting Potter and if Albus was not really looking out for Potter then –

No.

Severus knew why he had gone along with the coincidences despite not believing in them.

He had promised to protect Lily's son. And if Albus was not going to and Voldemort was after the brat, he had to do something drastic.

Severus stared at the book.

Emerald eyes swam in his vision again.

"I take it back. This is all still inherently Potter's fault. I don't know how but it is."

It sounded unfounded but Severus knew the statement was a fact. The Potter brat was always the cause of his misery.

The potions Master took a deep breath and raised his Occlumency shields as the dark mark on his arm burnt once more.

Well, there was no putting off the inevitable. He had to go meet the Dark Lord. 

* * *

Severus took in a deep breath as Malfoy Manor loomed within his view. He could do this. He had done this so many times before. He could go face whatever the Dark Lord wanted from him and then go back home to finish his precious potion.

But against his will, the memory of his last visit to Malfoy Manor swam up to Severus' mind.

_"You sought an audience Severus?"_

_The spy nodded. He had debated the matter for a long time and right now, the youngest Potions Master was in a serious dilemma. He sincerely hoped that he was not doing the wrong thing. Deep within him, he felt his magic stirring agitatedly, as though trying to remind him to remember his oath._

_The oath he had made to protect Lily's son at all costs._

_Severus gathered his courage, staring deep into the eyes of the Dark Lord. Too late to back off now. He was already alone in the chamber with the seemingly intelligent but insane man._

_"I did my Lord. Though I had hoped it would be in private."_

_Severus did not bother to be discreet about his glances towards the presence of Lucius Malfoy and the last living Lestrange trio. The hiss of indignation from Bellatrix in particular calmed his nerves with the amusement that the witch's ire provided to him. Severus let his eyes seek the Dark Lord's gaze again. The man seemed amused by his actions._

_Not for long unfortunately. Severus knew anger would soon be rising within the chamber._

_"I have learnt of some rather startling news, my Lord. I wish to share it with you because I believe you can benefit from it and it may even provide you with more chances to win this war. However, there is unfortunately a condition."_

_Crimson eyes narrowed, glints of amusement and annoyance swirling within their depths._

_"A condition, you say?"_

_Severus sincerely prayed for his life though the notion of death had longed stopped scaring him. Being a spy meant learning to accept that you are one of those likely destined for early death, no matter which side you were on. He just wished he would be spared from being tortured for too long if his plans failed. The spot where the dark mark rested on his skin itched slightly, not helping his sense of foreboding. Severus tightened his occlumency shields, reminding himself of the crucial details of his plan._

_"Yes, my Lord," he raised his arm, pulling off the sleeve to reveal the dark mark in all its glory. "I need you to first prove that the Lord I swore allegiance to is still here and faithful to the cause."_

_Silence reigned in the room. Severus stopped the shiver threatening to run down his spine as dark magic swirled around the serpentine man before him, cackling in fury at the slight he had implied at its owner. He could sense Bellatrix's insane threats in the background._

_"You dare –"_

_"Yes, my Lord. I dare." No point in trying to play to the man's favour. He was already going to die sooner or later – either at the hand of the two twisted master's he was caught between or at his own magic's punishment if he made the wrong move against the boy's well-being. "I dare it very much because I am afraid. Afraid that the old coot probably has won the whole war after the revelations I have heard and afraid because I'm not sure even if you do win you will stay true to your initial vows."_

_Silence reigned again thought this time the shock on the faces of his audience was certainly more prominent. Even Voldemort had his confusion plastered across his face._

_"Severus, remember who you are addressing!" Lucius hissed in warning, though Severus caught the underlining worry. The man, despite his cold façade, cared deeply for his family and true friends._

_"And I would like to implore to our Lord to remember exactly why we chose to follow him." Severus stepped forward, raising his marked up towards the stunned Dark Lord again, a slight desperation seeping into his words. "Unlike recent times where the oath has only bonded the new followers to you willingly my lord, the times before that when I was initiated, the oaths went two ways. I swore my allegiance and will to you on the condition that you be the leader for the cause, Lord Voldemort. The cause for freedom and a better life for the Dark fraction. The cause for freedom for magic and the generations to come to learn their true potentials. I am now led to believe with your actions preceding your temporary collapse from power that you are not the Lord I swore to. Prove me wrong."_

_"How dare you, you filthy half-breed – "_

_Severus ignored the woman, too angry to be bothered with her._

_"I have news, Lord Voldemort. News that once upon a time I would have delivered freely to you because I believed you would take action unlike the old coot whom we all know only offers false promises. You however have always been passionate about saving the children of magic. The ones that are abused and neglected unfairly for simply being blessed. Do you still remember those goals?"_

_Bellatrix's rants died off at Severus' words, the insane witch finally catching the desperation running through the unusually emotional Potions' Master's words._

_Seconds crawled as none dared to disrupt the tensed silence stretching between the Dark Lord and his sudden defiant follower._

The moments that had followed the end of that silence had been the worst moments of his life. The expected anger from the Dark Lord that had pounced upon him in the form of the man's angry magic had terrified him. But Severus had stood his ground and he had followed the plan he had devised to the end.

That was, after he managed to recover from the first crucio that he had been unable to dodge.

_"I hereby call upon Magic, to judge my leader's worth. If he has been led astray, then provide help, Great Lady, to steer him back. But if my faith has been broken unjustly, then Great Lady, serve me justice."_

For a beat, after that reckless calling, there had been silence and Severus had experienced that mind-bending fear when he believed he had failed. He knew subconsciously that there was simply too much risk. He had to be in the right to call for magic's aid. But he was already working for two masters. Who was he to accuse that Voldemort was the one doing the breaking of trust?

Then there was also that issue of the book being a joke in itself.

Thankfully, however, the magic in the room had flared the next moment, destroying any of Severus' doubts. The whole energy had swirled and then crashed upon Voldemort – and not him, thank Merlin – after a few seconds of what seemed like deliberation.

What had followed after that had been utter chaos, for a lack of better words. Severus had fled then and there, knowing he would not get another chance to escape. By the time he reached home after several apparitions to throw off anyone who may have followed him that day, it had been well past evening.

And the first thing Severus acknowledged was that the dark mark had not vanished or lightened.

Which meant Voldemort was not dead.

Which meant the first part of the calling had been the likely verdict.

Magic was helping the man steer back to the right path.

The dark man burnt in his arm again, bringing him back to his present with a clear warning.

Severus fought the urge to swallow, refusing to show vulnerability so close to potential enemies. He was not very close to the Death Eaters bar a few exceptions like Narcissa and Lucius.

Praying this would sincerely not be his last day on the planet, he strengthened his Occlumency shields one last time before stepping towards the looming white gates before him. 

* * *

It took everything in Harry to stifle the scream bubbling up his throat when he woke up.

And that was saying a lot, considering Harry had subconsciously trained himself to do exactly that from a young age. It had been the best way to avoid more Dursley antagonism before.

But then again, back at the Dursleys, human contact often only came when he was awake and moving. Unlike his current predicament where he could _feel_ two human bodies pressed too close for comfort beside him.

Forcing himself to breath calmly, he assessed the situation quietly without opening his eyes and waited for his memories to surface above the lingering haziness that clung to him from his sleep.

He was likely with the plants in his tree fork, if the tickling sensations on his left arm were any indication. And if his memory of seeing Sirius and the twins were true, the body he was currently using as pillow was likely one of them hugging him in his sleep.

Vaguely, Harry remembered that goblins had their own magical tent in which they had retired for the night, instead of opting to crowd in with the _humans_ in a small tree fork. He relaxed slightly at remembering Fred and George's fake affronted looks at being dismissed so easily.

Gingerly, he opened his eyes now that he had calmed somewhat under the knowledge that he was not in a precarious situation as his mind liked to often conclude.

And Harry came face to face with his sleeping godfather's chest. His eyes shifted up to look at the man's face.

Sirius was looking very peaceful, was the first thought that entered the teen's mind. All the rare times that Harry managed to see his godfather, the man was always looking haggard and haunted in a way that made Remus Lupin himself look like he lived a life full of luxury, and that was saying something. But asleep, Sirius looked much less dead and Harry could faintly make out traces of the once youthful and handsome face that Sirius had boasted about before.

Harry sighed. He wished very much that Sirius had never lost that liveliness in him. Fate had been rather cruel to both him and his godfather by locking the innocent man up in a place meant for cruel monsters.

_Fate and Dumbledore. Mostly Dumbledore._

Harry stopped his thoughts before they could lead him down a more bitter road. It had taken swimming in a river surrounded by blue lizards for him to get distracted yesterday after reflecting on his life with the plants and a pair of werewolves.

Who knew talking to a plant of all things would have opened his eyes to so many of the _oh so revered_ Dumbledore's errors?

 _You don't know that yet, for sure_ , a tiny voice in his head attempted to be hopeful.

It was a poor attempt. He had learned too many things about the wizarding world yesterday that highlighted the one too many coincidences in his life that _did not seem_ like coincidences any longer.

Harry sighed again.

Taking care not to wake up his godfather, Harry tried to ease himself from the man's rather tight embrace.

The task was more difficult than he initially thought. Sirius seemed to tighten his hold on Harry the more he tried to free himself. It almost felt as if Sirius was afraid to let him go while sleeping and Harry absently wondered how they had even come into the strange position in the end. He remembered there being a distinct one arm length between all four of them when he went to sleep and he knew for a fact he was not the kind to move in his sleep.

Unless of course, he had a nightmare which –

Oh.

Harry fumed silently in frustration as blurry details of waking up in the middle of the night from a nightmare only to be comforted by Sirius and the twins and lulled back to sleep returned to his memories.

He remembered snippets of the usual bad dreams he had been having lately. There was Cedric, the Dursleys and even his childhood cupboard, if he remembered correctly.

Something stirred at the back of his mind.

There had been something else too…Something related to Voldemort. Harry frowned. He could not remember for the life of him what that new dream was about though.

Sirius shifted slightly and Harry was reminded of the fact that the man had woken up in the middle of the night to comfort him, along with the twins.

He groaned.

Great. Now they likely knew of his stupid nightmares too. As if the revelation of the entire Weasley clan, Sirius, McGonagall and a lot of strangers from some stupid vigilante group learning about his home life had not been enough of an embarrassment for him last night.

Harry groaned again.

Pale Pink slithered up to rub affectionately against his cheek in comfort. Despite his annoyance, Harry smiled at the gesture. It was oddly similar to a cat's actions and the fact that Pale Pink was a flower made the situation rather amusing.

He resumed his efforts to break free, trying to stop thinking about his newest realisation. Honestly, he was having way too many revelations and way too many people knowing about his business than he was comfortable with.

Harry stilled for a moment and sighed in frustration at the lack of progress he was currently having in escaping. All he had manged so far was turn away from his godfather's chest.

A bad move that turned out to be because he came face to face with one Fredrick Weasley's chest instead.

At least Harry believed it was Fred.

No. Harry was _certain_ it was Fred.

He distinctly remembered the boy that had introduced himself as Fred the first time he had met the twins on the Hogwarts express had a couple more freckles dusting his left cheek than George Weasley. It was an odd observation that Harry supposed many people would miss. After all, who could count freckles that quick? But Harry had spent years looking out for the slightest change in facial expression or colour in the Surrey neighbourhood. Realising the smallest things about people others usually did not see was something of a second nature by now.

And so, he was certain Fred Weasley had more freckles than George and George Weasley had a smile that veered towards a smirk that even Fred could not pull off.

Not to mention George's hair was a slight shade lighter than Fred's under the right lighting and –

An added weight to his waist snapped Harry out of his random mental listing of the differences between the twins. It took him a moment to realise that George – from Fred's other side – had decided to loop his arm over his twin brother. Unfortunately, with how close Harry was to Fred due to his shifting, this meant he too became a part of the impromptu cuddle that George initiated. And was inadvertently pulled flush against Fred.

A sleepy Fred whose first reaction to Harry's closeness was to snuggle his face into Harry's neck.

Harry froze. He faintly heard Sirius grumbling something in his sleep but he could not focus. The breath tickling near his collarbone effectively shut down any cognitive ability Harry possessed apparently.

In all his life, Harry only remembered being hugged by Hermione Granger and Molly Weasley. He had been taken by surprise by the first time the hugs had happened. Hermione had been the first ever person, in his memory (discounting his parents, since Harry really couldn't remember them). She had been the one to briefly hug him at the end of first year. Molly had done it during Harry's first summer at the Burrow and continued the act every time she saw him. It had been a weird new adjustment in his otherwise affection-free life. But after realising that neither women were going to let up on that habit that was very much natural to them, Harry had gotten used to it. Heck, he even enjoyed it, what with those hugs being the most positive touches he could remember receiving since the Dursleys.

But none of those bone-hugging cruses from either Hermione or Molly had ever prepared Harry for his current situation. It was one thing to get used to friendly hugs from his best friend and his other best friend's mother.

It was a totally different thing to be pressed against the brother of his best friend. It was wrong.

Or was it?

Harry was not sure.

Was this a normal thing among friends? Sure, he and the twins were not very close but they were still part of the few friends he had.

But Harry never did this with Ron or Hermione, now that he thought about it.

Or was this simply a by-product of living and sleeping with siblings over the years? Was that it?

Fred let out a sigh in his sleep, snapping Harry out of his thoughts. The older boy seemed to melt further into Harry while his twin from the other side tightened the arm wrapped around Harry's waist.

Harry closed his eyes in exasperation at his situation. And immediately regretted his action.

It seemed that shutting down his vision made him very much _more_ aware of the fact that he was pressed up against another boy. A boy whose nose was nuzzling his neck, whose arm was wrapped around his waist and whose thighs were pressed right against his own as Fred snuggled the life out of him.

Harry felt his face redden and his heart race. A part of him realised that he was bothered very much by his current predicament but he had no clue as to why. He had been fine when he had woken up near Sirius.

_What the heck is going on with me today?_

Ever so carefully, Harry resumed his attempts to escape. After a good while of struggling, he finally had the thought of asking help from his leafy companions, who had him out of the tangle of human limbs in under a minute.

"I should have called on you guys sooner," Harry muttered to Pale Pink under his breath as he straightened his attire that was crumpled due to sleeping.

Pale Pink simply patted him from his wrist in a way that said _'oh-we-are-well-aware-you're-dumb-from-time to-time-don't-worry'_.

Harry shot the flower a withering glare before sighing in self-pity. He honestly had the worst luck in his opinion.

The teen gave a glance back to the sleeping twins and Sirius. He knew he should wake them up but he dreaded continuing the conversation from the night before with them. The four had had quite the row – or well, Harry at least had been shouting pretty passionately, while Sirius and the twins had looked torn between shifting guiltily, begging for forgiveness and explaining their own situation and restrictions.

"I'll go and get some fresh air," he whispered to his awake companions. "Maybe I can cool down enough with that, who knows? I'm not going to help them or help myself by continuing to be angry like yesterday night anyways…"

His reaction still made him guilty. It was not their fault that his luck was so rotten in life. But still, Harry doubted anyone else could have done any better in his situation. Having your, your well –

_Oh fine I'll bloody admit it, it's abuse! There!_

Harry shuddered, shame trying to take over his mind again.

Anyways, he doubted anyone would have fared better in his position. The fact that bothered him the most, truthfully was not even his home life coming to light. It was that it came to light without no one warning him. And that people he did not even know now knew about it.

Honestly, his luck was simply rotten.

Harry sighed.

"I'll just go for a walk, honestly, or check on the goblins if they are awake," Harry muttered to himself as he made his way to the exit of the fork. "One of you help Sirius and the twins out when they wake up ok? Thanks."

He hopped on to a nearby branch as soon as a vine detached itself from his arm to remain behind. Harry gave it a string of his magic – _he'd figured by now that the plants loved it_ – in thanks. 

* * *

Harry hid a smile behind his hand as he watched Karnog chase the blue lizard that was running around the goblins' tent with his silver dagger in its mouth. The goblin had apparently made the mistake of leaving his tool bag open and little Puck had taken a shine to the sparkling sliver blade and the dark mahogany handle.

"Please stop laughing at me, Heir Potter," Karnog finally grit out in exasperation as he quit chasing the elusive lizard and gave Harry an accusing look as though he had been the one to put Puck up with the whole run-away-with-Karnog's dagger idea.

"I'm not laughing."

Harry raised his hand in surrender and shook his head in denial as the rest of the goblins snickered at their friend's plight.

"Well just get your lizard to give my dagger back!" Karnog sounded a tad bit whiny but Harry did not dare to tell the surly goblin that. He was sure, however, that Karnog got the message from the increased snickering from the rest of the goblins and the way the Harry's own shoulders shook with repressed laughter.

"I hate you all."

Harry rolled his eyes at the melodramatic reaction.

"Calm down, Karnog. Puck is simply a baby. He will tire of his new found toy sooner or later," Harry said casually, waving his hand in a gesture of dismissal, pretending the whole ordeal was not a matter of concern. He sent a discreet wink to the surrounding goblins as Karnog started to sputter in indignation.

"My dagger is not a toy!"

The rest of the goblins outright laughed at their colleague's frustration. Karnog's pale green face took an interesting shade of red. Harry wondered if it was from embarrassment or anger. He supposed it was a bit of both.

Perhaps the joke was going too far. He should give the poor goblin a break.

"Oh, don't look so grumpy, I'm just teasing, Karnog. Here –" Harry plucked a flower that had blossomed under his request from one of the vines wrapped around his wrist. It was a beautiful orange-red shade.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Karnog asked with a deadpan stare, even though he accepted the flower.

"Feed Puck. Like I said, he is still young, I've learnt that if you want something of yours back from him, you just distract him with food. And since he is hungry often, it's a really good tactic."

Karnog gave the flower a dubious look.

"The lizard eats flowers?" he asked skeptically.

"Nope. He likes the pollen and the nectar of this particular flower. Apparently, it has hints of fire and as a water creature, that attracts his kind a lot." Harry stared back seriously at the goblin's puzzled look. "I'm not joking. I found it weird too but I just chalked it up to the opposites attract theory."

Karnog did not seemed convinced.

"Why can't you do the feeding then, if you already know it?"

Harry gave a polite smile.

"My dear Karnog, I'll be a fool to pass up entertainment _that_ easily now, won't I?"

Karnog groaned and the rest of the goblins broke out in laughter again.

"I hate you all," the goblin muttered again before reluctantly accepting his fate and chasing after the energetic lizard which still had his dagger.

Harry joined in the laughter as the goblin spent another ten minutes chasing before he finally caught the lizard and diverted its attention to the flower.

"We are never inviting this lizard back into our tent," Karnog declared to the rest later as he packed away his dagger and warded all his belongings from being removed without his permission. The other goblins continued snickering at him, though they followed Karnog's actions to ensure the safety of their own belongings.

Meanwhile, Puck, who had been contently sucking the nectar from the fire flower had perked up at the goblin's voice and proceeded to clamber on top of Karnog much to Karnog's exasperation. The little thing curled up comfortably on his head and resumed its breakfast for the day.

Harry chuckled. It was an adorable sight, truthfully.

"Alright, now that all the excitement is over, perhaps we can get to business, Heir Potter?"

Harry turned to Agrak who had been the one to speak. He noted that the goblin was dressed in a new attire, similar to its warrior suit yesterday, but simply different in colour. While yesterday's clothes had been a deep brown that blended in well within the forest ground, today's attire was a rather dim but deep emerald that would camouflage him perfectly into the canopy.

A brief glimpse around confirmed that all the goblins were dressed the same, like they had been the day before. Harry suspected they went for the ability to blend in purposefully. Even if the goblins seemed like a race that cared not for fashion like humans, Harry was certain they valued practicality in their clothes, as well as making a good – or perhaps intimidating would be the better choice of word – impression.

"That is if you are done with your morning routines?"

Harry turned back to Agrak, startled. He had lapsed into his thoughts for a moment too long, apparently. Agrak seemed to think his silence translated to the message that he was not ready.

"Oh no. Sorry! I'm all set. I've already showered and all that."

"Breakfast?" Agrak inquired.

"I usually eat a little later. It takes a while for me to be hungry," Harry replied casually.

He hoped the goblins were not going to read into his eating habits too much. They had already seemed suspicious when Sirius had taken to make a scene last night at Harry's relatively smaller meal proportions compared to the twins. But courtesy had the goblins not interfering before and Sirius eventually had to stop unless he wanted Harry to kick the man out of the tree fork.

It had been an irritating night overall, considering all its revelations.

Harry was well aware, truthfully, that he had a small appetite. Though he had eaten much more than he usually would during the summer (courtesy of the Dursleys' rationing his food previously) while he was in the forest, it was still nothing compared to the proportions even Hermione would probably eat. He was working on it, for Merlin's sake! He did not need people harping on him on more matters now that they knew he had a not so spectacular childhood.

He forced his mind back to his current company's conversation.

Agrak it seemed sensed there was more to the picture despite Harry's not-quite-suspicious reason but the goblin leader seemed to let it go.

For now.

"Well that is alright. We eat our breakfast rather late too, so you are welcome to join us."

"Oh, I wouldn't want to intrude –"

"It will not be intrusion, Heir Potter, if we are inviting," Agrak interjected firmly. "Besides, it is the least we can do after your hospitality last night."

Harry reddened. He himself wondered if it were from anger or embarrassment. Harry supposed focusing on the less negative emotion would be better for his overall mental well-being.

"Honestly, you have as much right to be here as everyone. I did nothing," Harry muttered as he joined the goblins onto the floor in an impromptu circle within their tent.

"Yes, you have," Riptooth cut in from across him. "Normally, to spend a night in the forest, we would have to perform many wards to ensure our safety and it will also be necessary for each and everyone in the group to take over night watch duties too, just in case a magical creature managed to thwart our wards. Yet, we had slept peacefully without any of those measures due to your help."

The rest of the goblins nodded.

"Yes. Your companions," Kurgrass gave a wave to the plants on his arm, "guarded us well. And we know they did that under your request. Therefore, we owe you our thanks, Heir Potter."

Harry's cheeks turned a deeper red (and this time he knew it was embarrassment) and decided, after seeing the amused glances – and one rather particularly evil smile from Karnog – he should change the topic before he was mercilessly teased.

"Um, well," Harry stumbled through his words, "Perhaps we should get on with the discussion you wanted to have."

The mood in the tent room immediately became serious.

"Yes, we shall. We have much important things to discuss with you and –" Agrak paused suddenly gave a glance towards the entrance of the tent.

"My sincere apologies. I had forgotten you have human companions. Do you wish to include them for this?"

Harry was surprised by the offer.

"I have no preferences. Are their presence needed for this discussion?"

Agrak seemed indecisive for a moment.

"It is related to the conflict with the Dark Lord Voldemort, Heir Potter. If you feel the need for a guidance in the matter coming up, perhaps having Mr Black, since he is your guardian, would help?"

Harry stared in surprise at the revelation of the topic and contemplated the situation. On one hand, he was seriously angry at the twins and Sirius right now, despite his logical side knowing he should not be. He had learnt so much about his current reputation in the wizarding world after their talk that prevailed late into the previous night, after the goblins had retired to set up their tent. Apparently much had happened during the month he had been absent and cut off from the wizarding world. The fight with Dumbledore, the search for him by the Order of the Phoenix members, the continued defamation of his character by the Ministry throughout the summer and just today morning, he learnt that even his nightmares were so abruptly discovered.

True, he had always wished for someone to understand and rescue him from the Dursleys but he had also hoped it would have come with some warning. And he never admitted it but Harry was rather bitter that despite him having told all of his friends and true family that he was hated at the Dursleys, it took his disappearance with fatal injuries to get them to reconsider his living arrangement.

To think exactly _why_ he always begged to not go back to those monsters.

Honestly, had a young teen running off after doing serious accidental magic in third year's summer not been a clue enough? Or the numerous times he had hinted the Dursleys preferred him dead rather casually? Or –

Harry stopped his line of thought.

That was not the point right now. Did he want to include Sirius in this likely complicated conversation?

"No."

He didn't need to see the goblins faces to know they were startled by his decision. But at the end of the day, feelings aside, Harry wanted to hear whatever the goblins had to say without another political influence. Sirius had too strong a leaning right now for him to give sound advice.

"I'll get his advice after this if I need but I'm afraid right now having Sirius here would not be helpful to you or me."

Agrak was silent for a moment before he nodded.

"As you wish." The goblin took a deep breath. "Alright Heir Potter, you may well know, that the goblins have never taken a side in this war as we do not concern ourselves with witches and wizards' issues so long as it is not about finance and so long as it does not affect our nation. It has been a necessary neutrality for us to prolong the peace between our races for as long as it was possible. However, we have decided recently, to join a side."

Harry felt dread pool within him out of instinctual habit. He could logically surmise whose side the goblins had picked but he knew by now that sometimes, life like to spring surprises on him. And often enough they were the unpleasant sort of surprises.

"Our nation had decided to back _you_."

Harry stilled in surprise. He had yet to decide if this was the good or bad kind.

Him?

"Me?" he questioned with narrowed eyes, not having missed the emphasis. "Not Dumbledore?"

Agrak shook his head.

"Not Dumbledore, Heir Potter. At the end of the day, that man is still fighting against the _dark_. And we are classified as dark by your race. We cannot back him for he would never help us for all the equality he preaches."

Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Then why do you not follow Voldemort?"

Agrak shrugged.

"Like we mentioned. We do not tangle ourselves in the fights and disputes of wizards. And we are intelligent enough to know the man has strayed far too far from his original revolution and is far too entrenched in evil to support him. Contrary to popular belief we do have morals, wizard."

Harry gave an apologetic smile.

"I meant no offence but nobody has enlightened me on these matters before."

Agrak and the other goblins took the apology with a short nod of their heads.

"But why are you breaking your neutrality now?" Harry inquired. "I am, reluctantly mind, under Dumbledore's side you realise? Why choose me?"

This time, it was Kurgrass that answered the question, from beside Agrak.

"Because, we do get into affairs that involve magic that is not tied to simply wizards and witches, young one."

Harry frowned, not understanding.

"I don't understand. I'm still part of the wizarding world."

"That is true," Kurgrass nodded. "But something has changed for you, has it not this past month?"

Kurgrass' stare reminded Harry strongly of the times he had imagined what a real oracle would look like while staring at somebody.

"You have been accepted, approximately a month before, Harry Potter as an heir of the earth."

* * *

Harry was not trying to be slow.

Really. He was not.

But seriously? Heir of the earth? What was that supposed to mean exactly?

He asked the question because he really did not understand anything. The goblins honestly, did not seem surprised by his lack of reaction. Harry suspected they already knew he was not going to get it despite their rather dramatic proclamation of the 'heir to the earth statement'. Riptooth's smile honestly seemed way too mocking and judgemental.

That suspicion was the only thing keeping him from feeling bad at giving so little reaction to Kurgrass' statement.

"We had thought you may not know about this – " Ha! He was right! They did know that he did not know! Bloody buggers, " – beforehand. We'll explain as best as we can Heir Potter."

Harry decided he should focus on Kurgrass. The goblin at least hid his judgment well, therefore giving Harry some semblance of comfort at pretending to not feel stupid by his obvious ignorance.

"As you know the Olde Ways have been eroded slowly but surely in your Wizarding World. Some of it has even been banned completely under the bigoted beliefs that they are inherently evil. So, it's no surprise that the knowledge about nature magic may have been lost, especially pertaining to the Earth goddess. You are aware however, Mister Potter, that as an heir of a family that was known to practice some of the Olde Ways that – "

"Wait hold up!" Harry stared at the goblins in utter confusion. "What Olde Ways? And what do you mean heir to a family that practices that?"

The silence that greeted him made him uncomfortable.

"What?" he asked nervously.

Agrak seemed to sigh in a mix of frustration and anger, though it did not seem directed at Harry.

"Perhaps, all things considered, we should bring your godfather into this, Heir Potter. Somethings are simply not adding up."

* * *

It was midnight when it happened. The trees around Grimmauld Place swayed with an unknown breeze and stood taller, leaves turning ever so slightly darker in some form of plant-like excitement. Tendrils of vines creeped silently around the hidden house, curving around its perimeter in a strange but pleasing design that made the sombre walls look slightly less intimidating, though no one other than those who knew of the secret house's location could see it.

And within the house itself, crammed inside the attic, a majestic Hippogriff ruffled its feathers in excitement.

In a small unkept room, hidden under a camouflaged trapdoor, an old house elf straightened up. Its action disturbed the antiques piled around it but the elf paid no attention for once to the salvaged heirlooms. Rather it simply started twitching its ears in anxiety as the being finally allowed itself to connect to its innate magic and instincts, learning why his late mistress' home was suddenly filling with powerful magic.

Magic long forgotten by wizards and witches.

The widening of eyes would be the only indication that Kreacher finally understood something the rest of the occupants in the house did not. And the realisation left the slightly insane elf rocking himself in his little haven, trying to sort out his internal turmoil and conflicts at the new knowledge he had gained of the chosen.

Down at the kitchen, chaos was ensuing amongst the human magicals gathered at the place despite the odd hour. Six of the gathered were quite unbothered about the chaos, frankly reveling in the tension and disorganisation. They had had many a revelations and conflicts over the last month after all, ever since the disappearance of one person they were all fond of. Now, watching their companions, especially one old Headmaster, panic and fumble was something that gave them all some form of vindictive satisfaction.

"SILENCE!" Dumbledore had employed the help of the sonorous charm again it seemed. The gathered group quietened immediately, tensing slightly at the flare of magic surrounding the old man.

"Fighting and panicking amongst ourselves is not going to help us at all. Let us get back to the topic of concern. Molly, Arthur," the old man fixed the Weasley couple with a serious stare. "You've been here the most, if not whole, of the time. Do you remember Sirius of your sons saying or acting any way suspicious? Any reason for them to have disappeared?"

At the other end of the table, Hermione and Ron exchanged exasperated glances. It had taken the order a whole half an hour of panicking before they had started to ask such an important question, ever since Mundungus had dropped by suddenly earlier in the evening and realised Sirius and the twins were missing. The ridiculousness of the situation was getting on their nerves.

For the first time since learning about the Order, Ron and Hermione were starting to see that the group was not as glorifying and efficient as the adults had painted it to be. Beside them Ginny let out a small sigh of frustration.

It seemed the youngest Weasley had come to a similar conclusion.

"Oh, they did nothing out of the ordinary when I last saw them," Molly replied and Arthur nodded, affirming his wife's words silently.

In Molly's opinion, it was true. Sirius and the twins packing up and leaving in a heartbeat to find young Harry was not unexpected to her. Sirius' reaction needed no explanation. Harry was the man's godchild. As for the twins, Molly knew that despite being pranksters, her two sons valued family very much and Harry was very much family.

"And when did you last see them?" Moody asked from across the table.

Molly shrugged.

"I'd day about four days ago."

"What?!"

The exclamation came from all around the table. The teenagers in the room, plus Remus Lupin and Arthur, sighed and simply took silent sips from their mugs of hot chocolate. They had long given up hope in the Order's ability to function.

Remus in particular seemed to think that without one Severus Snape in the room the group was even more inefficient than usual. He was starting to realise for all his bite and sarcasm, Severus at least brought some level of common sense and logic to the table unlike the others.

"Molly, did you not notice your sons and Sirius' absence at all these past few days?" Moody asked, suspicion coating his voice.

"Oh, I knew they weren't here, Alastor. I just didn't think it was a matter of concern. In fact, I am rather upset by the sheer unnecessary commotion _someone_ ," Molly shot a disgusted look to Mundungus who flinched back in fear, "Started to make ever since he barged into the house for some free food."

"So, you mean to tell me you knew where they were all this time?" Moody growled in annoyance.

"Yes."

"Why didn't you tell us then?" McGonagall asked, lips thinned into a straight line at realising how much time they had wasted.

"None of you bothered to ask now did you?" Molly snapped back. "All you've done is sit and panic."

The table fell silent. The Weasley matriarch did make a good point.

"Well where are they then?" Hestia Jones asked, curiosity colouring her voice.

"They went to get Harry," Molly replied nonchalantly.

"What?!"

Unbothered by the second figurative bomb she had thrown at those present, Molly Weasley simply got up from her seat to head into the kitchen.

"Well, if that is all, I'm going to make dinner. What do you want, by the way?" She turned her gaze to the teenagers sitting at the other end of the table.

"Oh! Chicken roast?" Ron suggested.

Ginny and Hermione rolled their eyes at his enthusiasm.

"Anything will be fine for me, mum," Ginny replied.

"Same for me," the brunette witch added. Hermione spared a glance to the tired looking ex-DADA professor beside her. "Though if possible, you should give Professor Lupin something with chocolate."

Remus shot a grateful smile at the witch while insisting that she and the other kids call him by his first name for the _nth_ time.

"Alright then," Molly turned to walk towards the kitchen.

"Now wait a minute Molly," Albus called out. "What about Sirius and the twins?"

"I told you Albus. They went to get Harry."

"Where have they gone? It's dangerous for them to –"

"I think a man who has broke out of Azkaban with his sanity intact to look out for his godson can go out there and bring said godson back with no problems, Albus," Molly interrupted with an icy glare.

Those present stared in surprise at the cold disposition of the usually jovial witch.

"And considering the fact that the twins are _my sons_ and that _I_ have no problems in where they are and who they went with, I don't think you need to worry over them so much."

"Where have they gone to find Harry –"

"I'm not telling you that," Molly replied.

"Molly!"

"I don't intend to repeat, Albus. After your failures at guarding Harry, I see no need to involve you when it comes to the boy's whereabouts. Sirius wouldn't want me to and he is the boy's _legal_ guardian, might I remind you."

"Now Molly," Minerva started.

Molly shot the Transfiguration Professor a chilly look.

"If you give me justifications for his failure, Minerva, I will kick you out, ex-Professor of mine or not."

McGonagall wisely kept quiet.

"Bloody hell," Ron whispered to his companions from across the room. "Since when did mum become so cool?"

Remus, Hermione and Ginny chuckled at the comment, though they were in awe themselves.

"No idea, Ron," Hermione replied. "But you know what? She's so much more entertaining this way."

"Want to make a bet on who she'll be eating into next?" Ginny asked with a smirk as the four watched the Order members recover from their shock and prepare to foolishly interrogate Molly. "Honestly, do they even realise that Mum was not the only one who knew of Sirius and the twins' disappearance?"

"I bet on Albus," Remus replied. "And I doubt it. Molly is very effectively holding all their attention anyways."

"I bet on Moody, though I doubt mum will have a go at him. He has some semblance of common sense and was really upset at learning about what Harry went through," Ginny commented.

"I honestly hope it's Dung. I wanna see him properly taken down, the piece of trash," Ron muttered in a dark tone.

Hermione hummed, taking in all their responses.

"Who are you betting on, Hermione?" Ginny asked.

Hermione opened her mouth to answer when the ground started to shake.

"What the – "

Everyone in the kitchen stilled at the sudden tremor that was going through the earth.

"Um is this normal?" Ron asked, clutching his chair in shock.

"I don't think so?" Ginny replied.

To everyone's surprise, a crack appeared on the floor from a metre away from the dining table. It grew across the length of the room in a matter of seconds and then the ground opened up.

"Well shit," Ron muttered. His soft exclamation echoed across the silent room.

Before anyone could react to the gaping hole in the floor however, the most peculiar thing happened. From inside the ground, shadows started to form. A few moments later, three familiar shapes shot out of the ground and floated in the air for a mere moment.

The ground closed up.

The figures fell back to land on their feet.

Well…one of them did at least.

Harry Potter shot his companions a disgusted look.

"Seriously you guys? Get up!"

Sirius, Fred and George merely groaned from where they were sprawled on the floor.

"But Harry, we literally just got shot out of the earth!" Sirius cried out hysterically. "The _earth_ pup!"

"It's not like you're dying," Harry muttered.

"Oh you wound us –"

"– Harrikins! Do you not care for your–"

"Finish that line. I dare you," Harry shot the smirking twins a murderous look. His face was starting to turn a deep shade of red.

"Come now pup, be nice to your –" Sirius shut up as Harry's glare was redirected at him.

"Get the fuck up and get a grip you three or I swear I will have you buried away deep down the earth _alive_!" Harry hissed. A dangerously dark aura was surrounding the raven-haired teen and the plants decorating his arm suddenly seemed rather malevolent, sprouting thorns that looked suspiciously poisonous.

Sirius and the twins scrambled up, sensing that Harry was not giving an idle threat.

Harry meanwhile huffed in exasperation and finally took a glance at his surroundings. He blinked as he found himself staring back at his silent and stunned audience.

"Who the hell are you people?" he asked, confused.

Sirius and the twins blinked, taking note of their company for the first time.

_"What the bloody hell is going on?"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I give Harry a sexuality crisis in the middle of waking up? Well...maybe??  
> On that note, which character do yall think should end up with Harry if he were to take a romantic interest soon. I don't care which gender. Just share your thoughts if you got the time.
> 
> And did you think I forgot abt Tommy boy? No. I didn't. What do you think should happen to him? Become sane? Become cursed?  
> Also, I like it when the Weasleys defy Dumbledore's expectations. In a way that does not make him happy.
> 
> OOHHH and do mention if you want anything funny to go down in Grimmauld now that Harry and his leafy companions are there... I can try to incorporate it in if you want ヽ(ヅ)ノ


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Small tease:  
> Fred blinked before the mischievous air returned around him.
> 
> “Oh, is that so?” he asked with a smirk as he brought his face closer to Harry’s.
> 
> Fred noted in utter amusement that the younger boy’s eyes were glazed over with absolute disbelief. He snapped his fingers lightly in front of those dazed emerald eyes, smirking more when they zeroed in on him and Harry’s cheeks promptly gained a rosy hue.
> 
> “Does it affect you that much?” he asked in a whisper.
> 
> “W-what?”
> 
> Harry was evidently not in the right mental capability to comprehend anything anymore. Fred supposed he could understand. He was rather mind-blowing.
> 
> “Modest much?” George voice deadpanned across his mindscape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I gave this my best shot. Advanced apologies if there are any errors in the language. I corrected as many as I could find by myself over the past few days.

Harry watched silently as the people around him argued incessantly. He scoffed. Honestly, they were talking about him as though he was not even there. Did they really believe they had the right to make decisions on his behalf like that?

“Well considering I’ve lived so long like a puppet to the whims of others unknowingly, I suppose part of the blame falls on me for this situation,” Harry thought.

He scanned the room again. His friends were the only ones who seemed to be trying to get the others to realise that they had no right to decide things for him. But Harry could not find it in him to feel grateful for their actions. _Yet_.

He still remembered the lonely nights he had spent during the first couple of weeks of the summer holidays. Granted he realised the adults had a lot of control over his friends’ actions too but still. They could have at least _tried_ to correspond more sincerely just to keep him company. They had not even had to do increase the frequency of their letters. Simply having the lot of them write their own letters would have done wonders.

But no. They had given him one combined letter that did not even reach the three quarters of the parchment, summarising repeatedly on how they were all doing fine _together_ in some secret safehouse.

What a comfort for a lonely teenage boy who had repeatedly requested to be rescued from his neglectful guardians.

Harry clenched his teeth.

And that reminded him of another matter.

He glanced around at the chaotic room.

These people – most of them strangers – knew now about his childhood.

Harry frowned as a suffocated feeling overwhelmed him. He had always been insecure about that topic. To let people know that he had been friendless till he was eleven years old. To let people know that he slept in a bloody cupboard of all places.

“I should have burnt that letter long back,” he muttered under his breath.

Harry absently rubbed his right arm over his left, caressing the vines and flowers wrapped around there for comfort. The plants sent him soothing sensations in response, calming him slightly. Pale Pink, who was on his shoulder, wrapped around a sleeping Puck, even reached out and gave a slight nuzzle against his cheek.

Harry let out a sigh.

Honestly, he wondered why he did not do that long ago. That letter had not even been the original letter he had opened. The one he did read had been given to him by Hagrid in a shack that was located in the middle of nowhere. When Harry had returned back to the Dursleys after shopping at Diagon Alley for his school supplies, he had found that lone letter stuck behind his old cupboard’s doorway. Petunia had evidently missed that one while clearing up the countless others.

He had picked it up back then and kept it close, because even though he knew what was in the letter already, it had still been one of the few things in his life that belonged solely to him. His past self had been terribly sentimental about that and over the years, even as he lost the sentimentality attached to the thing, he had not thrown it away.

Harry sighed again.

Well, what was done was done, he supposed.

He glanced around the people again. Still feeling rather suffocated, Harry decided he would simply leave for now. It was not like anyone was going to bother talking to him yet, seeing all of them were too busy trying to decide things for him without his permission, _again_.

Harry felt an arm on his left shoulder, however, as he made to move.

Turning he saw George looking at him with a raised eyebrow, while Fred watched him with a slightly tilted head, curious. The latter looked slightly funny, considering Hedwig was perched on Fred’s right shoulder and was mimicking the teen to send Harry her own look of curiosity.

“I’m going to go wander or something. Maybe find a room to sleep in for the night,” he told the two softly.

“We’ll come with you,” George replied, voice equally as soft. “It’s dangerous to walk around this house, especially when you are unfamiliar with it.”

Then George smoothly shifted his hand to have it draping around Harry’s shoulder instead, taking care not to disturb Puck who was curled up between the juncture where Harry’s neck met his right shoulder. Harry gave him a deadpan look but George simply smirked back at him.

Fred stepped to Harry’s other side to mimic his twin, only unlike George, he wrapped his arm around Harry’s waist instead.

Harry blushed under the combined attention of both twins, unable to keep an indifferent expression. His heart was doing that peculiar thing where it picked up its rhythm again when the twins did these strange antics. Confused and very much flustered, he silently left the room with his nose in the air, trying to pretend to have some dignity left despite being sandwiched between the Weasleys twins.

He saw right before stepping out of the crowded kitchen that Sirius took notice of his leaving with the twins. But if the discreet smile that morphed into a smirk was any indication, his godfather didn’t seem to mind what he was doing. In fact, the man even gave Harry a short wiggle of his eyebrows when the others weren’t watching him, clearly hinting something before he went about to add to the chaos in the kitchen, likely to ensure Harry’s disappearance remained unnoticed for a long time.

Harry didn’t know what the man was hinting at (poor Harry was rather _innocent_ ) but he didn’t have to be a genius to realise whatever it was, it was likely _highly_ embarrassing.

Harry stepped away from the kitchen between silently snickering twins who had evidently caught Sirius’ antics like him. His face was very much flaming and Harry gave up trying to pretend he had any dignity left after that.

 _Your very red, Harry_ , Pale Pink commented from near his neck.

 _Oh, shut it_ , Harry grumbled back telepathically, glad to have discovered the ability to mind speak just a couple of days ago.

“Come on Harrykins,” Fred piped up softly from his right, unaware of Harry’s silent conversation.

“Let’s go find your room,” George finished.

* * *

Harry sighed as he wandered through the unfamiliar hallways of Grimmauld Place with his belongings. Fred and George were still on either side of him, accompanying him on his impromptu room hunt. Hedwig had long flown away up to the top floor for god knows what, taking Pale Pink with her in her talons. Puck had been taken along for the ride, not that the lizard realised it as it had still been asleep when Pale Pink had made a cradle with its vines and transferred the baby lizard comfortably over to its new bed before Hedwig flew them all away.

It had been a peculiar sight to watch. But Harry let them do what they wanted, knowing the beings were all curious anyways. And the vines decorating his left arm were still keeping him company so Harry wasn’t too bothered by the sudden lack of comforting weight on his right shoulder.

He had found all his stuff in Sirius’ room with the twins’ help.

His godfather had obviously been guarding it all during Harry’s absence. Harry was grateful. He had found his beloved photo album again and he hadn’t realised how much happier he felt at being able to just hold that scrapbook of photos in his arms. He’d been terrified that he’d never see his parents faces again, except when he had the occasional nightmares of his mother’s last moments.

It was a silly fear. But he hadn’t been able to help it.

After reuniting with his precious few belongings and discreetly wiping away a few tears after seeing his photo album (the twins had mercifully looked away without comment) however, he had very much hastened to exit Sirius’ room.

Not that he hated his godfather’s room or anything but being in a room surrounded by pictures of females, especially in increasing levels of nudity, was rather uncomfortable. (He had to wonder what Sirius got up to in his teens) Especially since the twins were with him. The two constantly sent him smirks and light leers every time Harry caught them staring at one of the pictures or when they caught Harry watching one of the pictures in a mix of confusion and dare he say it – arousal.

(Harry wasn’t going to acknowledge that small part of him that got irked whenever the twins stared at the pictures yet. He didn’t want to figure out where that was coming from, thank you very much.)

He was really starting to wish some guardian of his had been bothered enough to give him the birds and the bees talk despite all his muggle primary’s sex education – which did not get to much before Hogwarts started anyways since they had been still young.

He was well aware that puberty was hitting him and he was very, very clueless to all he was feeling. (His fumbling with Cho Chang last year still embarrassed him. Harry wasn’t over how he had tried to ask out a girl who was already _taken_.)

Once they had made it out of Sirius’ room, Harry and the twins had started an impromptu room hunt.

At first, the twins had directed him over to a room that Fred had helpfully informed was Ron’s. Harry had taken a peep out of curiosity and chuckled at the Chudley Canons posters that were plastered across the walls. There were also two beds in the room, he had noted and George had confessed that their mother had meant for him to room together with Ron.

But Harry had made a face and told the twins he didn’t want to.

He was very much in a righteous fury with his best friends, thank you very much, he had told the twins with a pout. And sharing a room spoils not just the effect of his _righteous_ feud but also makes fighting hard.

Fred and George had the audacity to laugh at his words before pointing out that Harry was inadvertently admitting that he was terrible at holding grudges with his friends.

Harry had pouted in response to that too but he hadn’t bothered to deny what they said.

He _was_ terrible at staying angry at his friends for long, especially when said friends were his best friends Ron and Hermione. Just look at what happened after the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament last year. _Honestly_. Harry didn’t know why he was that weak. All it had taken was Ron _speaking_ to him again – with the apology the boy had been meaning to convey being _very, very implicit_ and _never_ verbally admitted – and Harry had forgiven his annoying, insecure, loyal but difficult best friend in the span of a few minutes.

Weak. He _was_ weak.

So, with that being the case, Harry didn’t want to room with Ron. No. Such a decision would only lead to him exploding at his friends sooner rather than later. And after his explosion, Harry would inevitably cool down and forgive them all.

 _No_. He wasn’t going to let that happen this time.

He wanted his friends to stew a little longer in their guilt and fester their anxiety just a bit more as they waited for him to pour his anger at them.

He had spent almost the entire summer alone and friendless. He didn’t want anyone getting away with leaving him hopeless and frightened so easily.

Let them stew.

One more night wasn’t going to kill them anyway.

So that was how he and the twins were left roaming around the hallways, looking for a room for Harry to crash in.

Plus, Harry thought to himself as he walked silently beside the twins, he was somewhat doing Ron a favour too. Harry knew his nightmares – both old and new – were not going anywhere for the time being. So, without him in the room, Ron would get a few more nights of peaceful, undisturbed sleep until Hogwarts started.

Sighing and rubbing his scar – the blasted thing had been throbbing since Harry stepped into Grimmauld – he trudged on, looking desperately for a room, missing the twin looks of concern that he was given from beside him while he was lost in his thoughts.

He hoped he found a liveable room soon. The last one he had checked felt rather creepy and the furniture all looked suspicious. He had told the twins that he had a gut feeling some of it would murder him in his sleep and all three of them had backpedalled from that room immediately.

Harry sighed as the three of them wandered back to the stairways again.

“Oh, don’t worry Harrykins,” George ruffled his hair much to Harry’s indignation.

“You can bunk with us if we can’t find you a room,” Fred finished from his other side, giving him a strangely predatory look.

Harry shuddered, heart racing _again_ for some strange reason. He was starting to wish he hadn’t woken up to Fred’s face a few days ago. That was what triggered all these – _feelings_ – that were leaving him rather disorientated and confused.

“No thank you,” he told them firmly. “I’m not stupid enough to room with literal _devils_.”

Clutching his trunk closer to himself Harry pushed away the twins by his elbows, making sure to jab them hard on their chest on purpose. He smiled rather sweetly when the two of them shot him glares for that.

Served them right. Who asked them to press in close and breath down his neck and make his heart skip weirdly and–

Harry stopped his train of thought for his own good. Nothing was making sense anyways. Thinking about it all only made him more overwhelmed and anxious. He stepped onto the stairway trying to think of something else other than the Weasley twins – a rather difficult thing when the two devils were right beside him.

“Hedwig flew up here…where does this go up to?” he asked, voice coming out slightly breathy.

_Damn it._

He refused to meet the twins’ eyes.

“Attic _sweetheart_ ,” Fred replied, voice teasing.

Harry ignored the term of affection that was directed at him. It didn’t make his heart skip a beat. It _didn’t_.

“Well let’s take a –”

“Harry,” Fred’s voice interrupted, turning serious. “You can’t possibly want to sleep _there_.”

Harry turned to look at the twins. Both of them had dropped their joking auras to given him stern looks.

“Why not? The attic can’t be worse than the booby-trapped rooms,” he replied.

“The attic is not the place to be sleeping in and it’s honestly not very liveable,” George added.

“It’s cold, dank and very unhygienic,” Fred elaborated.

“Plus –”

Harry scoffed and turned away, not bothering to hear the rest of it.

 _Honestly, I’ve lived in a small cupboard,_ he thought to himself. _How bad could an attic –_

Harry dropped the trunk he was holding in surprise as he felt himself being pulled backwards. He naturally lost his footing on the stair and closed his eyes as he found himself falling. The vines on his arm tightened and Harry felt them extending, obviously moving to either catch him or soften his fall. But a strong arm and something else sturdy was already there, supporting him from falling all the way before the plants themselves could achieve that goal.

“What the heck you g–”

Harry paused in his outburst, distracted by the utterly cold look George was throwing him when he turned his head to look over his shoulder. A shiver ran down his spine and Harry realised with a touch of embarrassment that it was caused less by George’s serious gaze and more due to his current position with the teen. George had his left arm looped tightly around Harry’s waist, effectively pressing Harry’s back against George’s front. Harry comprehended rather slowly that the _something sturdy_ that had stopped his fall was none other than George Weasley’s chest.

He had to fight hard to keep the blush that was threatening to colour his cheeks. The plants on his left arm meanwhile sent him reassuring feelings, obviously not realising that the cause for his feelings of unease were in actual truth something – _someone_ – rather pleasant.

“Just because you were forced to live in a cupboard, doesn’t make it an okay experience, Harry,” George spoke softly but sternly.

Harry’s eyes widened. He belatedly realised that perhaps his thoughts on his cupboard may not have been restricted to his head after all.

He cursed his own self for muttering out loud unknowingly.

“And,” George’s right hand tilted his chin, forcing him to look back at the stern brown eyes he had averted his gaze from. Harry realised from this close to George that the boy’s brown orbs had flecks of green hidden within them. “Just because you’ve been forced to survive with sub-par standards, doesn’t mean you don’t deserve better. _Stop_ letting the poor standards those muggles imposed on you to remain. You deserve better, Harry. You deserve _the best of the best_.”

Harry felt something in his chest squeeze.

“That’s rather pushing it don’t you think?” he whispered back softly to George, with a bitter smile. “Saying that _I_ deserve _the_ _best of the best_?”

“But you do,” George replied earnestly, leaning just a tad bit closer, causing his breath to mingle with Harry’s own. “You’re a very sweet soul, Harry James Potter. Do you realise, that? You deserve a whole lot more than what people have done to you.”

Harry felt his eyes get suspiciously misty. It was rather new to have people tell him such things like he mattered enough, that he deserved good things, whatever good things be. Up till the plants that had strangely come to take care of him and the rare moments of bonding he had had with Sirius, Harry had never had any living being care much about him before. He thought his heart might explode with the way it was beating furiously.

 _Is this why they make my heart race?_ He wondered.

The twins were being exceptionally kind to him despite all their strange ways of teasing. And Harry knew himself well enough to realise that he was susceptible to acts of kindness, after being starved of that simple thing for most his life.

If he were to be honest with himself too, Harry knew his reason for forgiving Ron so easily last year was linked to this weakness of his. Ron was inadvertently the first friend his age. The first boy he had met that had been kind enough to be his friend. And even though he knew Ron had initially been drawn in by the mythical Boy-Who-Lived image, the boy had also chosen to stick around despite knowing the truth of how plain and unordinary Harry truly was.

Harry knew that he was extremely fortunate that Ron, for all his flaws, was a good person – a _good_ _friend_ – who came back to Harry at the end of it all when he admitted that he had been wrong to doubt Harry. Because otherwise, Harry would have been screwed by the permanent loss of Ron’s friendship last year. His friendship with Ron was something Harry rather cherished deeply.

 _Yet, Ron never made me feel this kind of way,_ Harry thought, taking in the heated and heady feeling in his head as he continued to stare into George’s hazel-brown eyes.

“You’re bunking with us, darling,” Fred’s voice came from in front of him.

Harry started, tearing his gaze from George’s magnetic ones only to lock his eyes on a similar set of brown orbs when he turned his head. 

Fred was before him, peering down at him from just a few inches away with a stern expression. Unlike George’s own bottle green flecks, the flecks in Fred’s eyes tended to veer towards amber green, Harry noted as he swallowed his suddenly dry throat.

He hadn’t even heard Fred move, he thought absently. Why was it that the twins kept coming so _close_ to him anyways? Harry had honestly lost count on how many times he had been sandwiched between the twins already. At least this time, they were surrounding him from front to back for a change, rather than from side to side. Not that either position helped Harry feel less dizzy around them.

“And there’s no negotiation on this matter,” Fred said.

Harry’s brain eventually went on to comprehend Fred’s words rather than only notice the boy’s very, very close presence.

He blinked.

Bunk with the twins?

They wouldn’t get a wink of sleep with his constant nightmares.

“Oh no –” he started but he was interrupted.

“No negotiating,” Fred repeated with a smirk.

“But really, I don’t want to trouble –”

“You’re no trouble _darling_ ,” George cut in from behind him, his breath tickling Harry’s ear.

Harry found his own breath hitching.

“R – really, it’s not necessary,” he stuttered out, averting gazes with Fred who had witnessed his lapse. “I’ll just bunk with Ron.”

“And end your _righteous feud_ with him early?” Fred asking teasingly.

Harry glared at him.

“Well, we can’t let that happen, can we Freddie?” George added again from behind him.

Harry hated how the George’s voice was sending shivers down his spine. That boy was _way too close_.

 _What is wrong with me?_ He thought.

“Certainly not, Georgie. Not when Harry needs to get his rightful vengeance,” Fred replied, smirk still in place.

“Well then, bunking with us it is,” George declared with a tone of finality.

Before Harry could protest Fred had stepped back and George took that as the cue to turn Harry around.

“Really you guys – HEY!” Harry cried out in indignation as George effortlessly threw him over his shoulder.

He gaped in shock as he got a rather nice view of George’s butt, upside down.

“George!” he hissed out, flustered.

Fred distracted him from continuing with a low whistle however.

“Nice butt you got there, Harrykins.”

“ _FRED!_ ” Harry cried, mortified.

“Hush now,” George said with a firm tap on Harry’s butt.

Harry squeaked, face aflame.

“You don’t want to alert the rest who are still down in the kitchen that we’re here, do you?” George asked quietly.

Harry fumed silently.

“That’s what I thought,” George replied as he turned and started to walk back towards the hallways, heading for his and his twin’s room.

Harry glared at the boy’s butt vehemently, ignoring the part of him that was rather enjoying seeing George’s butt for some weird reason.

“Like the view?” Fred’s voice came from in front of him.

Harry started and realised with a jolt that Fred was walking behind his twin, carrying Harry’s belongings and silently observing Harry. He reached out and tried to swat the smirking boy with a scowl.

“No,” he hissed back, annoyed that Fred dodged his attack.

“Don’t need to deny it, Harry,” George’s voice floated from behind him. “I won’t judge you for looking.”

Harry twisted awkwardly to try and scowl at the twin that was carrying him like a sack of potatoes.

“I’m not denying anything,” he hissed again, angered.

“Well, I for one very much enjoy this view,” George replied with a smirk – _Harry was certain the idiot was smirking even if he couldn't see him_ – as he gave Harry’s butt a light pinch.

Harry squeaked in mortification again and slumped downwards in defeat, knowing he couldn’t retaliate in any form. His action tuned out to be a bad move when his face came precariously close to George’s butt.

His eyed widened and he felt his cheeks burn again. Fred started to snicker at him, obviously having witnessed it all.

Harry groaned and covered his face with his hands.

He had a feeling he wasn’t going to survive the night with the Weasley twins for company.

* * *

“Hey IDIOTS!” Hermione shouted, finally losing her cool.

She glared as she got the attention of everyone in the room, most of them miffed and shocked by how she had addressed them.

“ _Stop_ deciding things for Harry, you morons!” the brunette witch hissed, daring anyone to protest what she was ordering. “And look around for a moment, will you? Harry’s long left you alone to your silly squabbles and squandering!”

* * *

Harry stepped into the attic curiously, taking in the dark and dusty environment with a frown. A flutter of white wings entered his vision and he soon found Hedwig hovering near his shoulder, dropping a still sleeping Puck and an excited Pale Pink – if the way the flower was vibrating was any indication – back onto the curve between his shoulder and neck. Then, to his amusement, Hedwig flew over to perch on top of his head.

 _Where are your two persistent shadows?_ Hedwig asked.

Harry rolled his eyes.

 _They aren’t my shadows, Hedwig. And the twins are in their room_ , he replied silently to the snowy owl as he cast his eyes around the attic, trying to find the hippogriff he had come looking for.

_Are you telling me youngling, that you don’t yet realise what they are doing?_

Harry frowned and effectively got distracted from his mission.

_What do you mean?_

_Youngling,_ Hedwig sounded rather exasperated, _it may not be spring but you must realise how those two have been advancing on you?_

Harry frowned.

 _I do. I am well aware that the two have been trying to creep me out since I hanged them by their ankles a couple of days back._ Harry paused. _You know what, they might be trying to retaliate for what I did then,_ Harry told Hedwig seriously.

It would make sense. The twins started become strange since that day.

**_“Harry!”_ **

**_Harry tensed as he heard Fred’s voice behind him. He wiped his sweaty palms on his overlarge and torn shirt nervously. If Fred was there, George was likely nearby too._ **

**_“We’ve been searching for you, why’d you run away?” George’s voice called out, proving his thought true._ **

**_“Nothing,” he replied, not turning to face the twins. “I’ll come back soon. You two just go back.”_ **

**_Honestly, the twins were the last people he wanted to see right now._ **

**_He had woken up a while ago to find himself cuddled between two people again. This time, it was between Sirius and George._ **

**_Sirius’s protective arm made him feel safe naturally. He was extremely glad for his godfather’s presence over the past couple of days as the goblins revealed to him details about his family heritage that he had not even known existed. The man’s support and guidance through the talks had really been helpful. Harry genuinely felt as if he finally had a solid father-figure of some sort with Sirius’ presence. It made him feel way more secure than the acceptance Arthur Weasley had kindly given him when the patriarch had welcomed Harry’s presence in his house during the summer before his second Hogwarts year._ **

**_But turning and finding George behind him when he woke up had left him very much disconcerted. It was not that he didn’t feel safe. It was that he found himself bombarded with strange new sensations and emotions that he didn’t understand how to handle._ **

**_It shouldn’t be bothering him so much. It really shouldn’t._ **

**_Fred and George were people he knew and trusted. They were his Quidditch teammates, plus Ron’s brothers. Waking up beside them, after the times they had helped him through his nightmares these past few days shouldn’t be so confusing. Besides, the fork they slept in was just a tad bit small for four people. It was only natural that – nightmares or not – they would all find themselves rolling closer to each other in their sleep._ **

**_But he felt so flustered and overwhelmed to find himself pressed close to George. Just like the time it had happened with Fred, Harry found his skin scorching wherever he realised George’s body was touching against his._ **

**_Harry was very confused honestly. And he also didn’t like his sudden inability to look at the twins without struggling to keep a straight face or a clear mind._ **

**_He didn’t know what was wrong with him and that scared him._ **

**_“Harry?”_ **

**_Harry whirled around in shock as a hand clasped his shoulder._ **

**_“Wha –”_ **

**_“Whoa easy there,” George whispered soothingly to him, holding him gently but firmly by the shoulders in what the teen was obviously hoping to be a grounding gesture._ **

**_The gesture grounded Harry alright. It very much grounded him by how it created a burning sensation on Harry’s shoulders where George’s hands were tightly gripping him._ **

**_The sound of leaves crunching alerted Harry to the fact that Fred had stepped up to stand beside his twin._ **

**_“Are you alright?” Fred asked, concern dripping in his voice._ **

**_Harry nodded mutely, not trusting himself to speak for some reason._ **

**_“Why did you run off like that? It’s barely morning yet, you know?”_ **

**_Harry shrugged. Unlike the time when he had woken up beside Fred, George had stirred when he felt Harry jolting away from his side. With his own mixed-up emotions and the fact that George caught Harry staring at him when he opened his eyes had made Harry very, very nervous and Harry’s only logical response then had been to remove himself from the situation._ **

**_So off he had bolted, terrified and not looking back. Just like the times when he had run while Aunt Marge’s dogs had chased him by the heels._ **

**_“Harry?” George pressed as he let go of his shoulders._ **

**_Harry suddenly felt cold with the absence of George’s hands, which was stupid, he told himself._ **

**_“Nothing, nothing,” he told them without meeting their eyes. “Bad dream.”_ **

**_He could tell from the sceptic aura coming from the twins that they didn’t believe him._ **

**_“Harry, you can talk to us,” Fred told him gently. “We won’t betray your secrets.”_ **

**_“We may be pranksters but we know when to be serious,” George added._ **

**_Harry shrugged again._ **

**_“Come on Harrykins,” Fred pressed softly._ **

**_Harry found a hand guiding his chin to face the twins._ **

**_“Look at us at least.”_ **

**_Harry felt his breath hitch as he met the gaze of two sets of intense brown eyes._ **

**_“You two have nice eyes,” he whispered out absently._ **

**_Silence stretched between the three of them for a few beats. Then Fred and George’s eyes widened simultaneously and Harry comprehended what he had said out aloud._ **

**_Harry took a violent step away from the twins, shaking his head to clear his hazy thoughts, missing the contemplative look on George’s face and the mischievous look that entered Fred._ **

**_“Sorry I’m a bit disorientated –”_ **

**_Harry paused as he saw Fred and George exchange a look. He narrowed his eyes._ **

**_“Are you two speaking in your minds again?” he asked warily._ **

**_The twins had discovered the ability by the second evening they’d spent in the forest, the twin bond between them maturing rather quickly with the level of concentrated magic in their current surroundings. They had had plenty of conversations between them since the discovery and Harry wouldn’t admit that he had found their initial childlike excitement at the ability rather endearing._ **

**_“Maybe.” George was the one who answered, turning to face Harry with a smirk._ **

**_Harry tensed. A smirking Weasley twin was never good news._ **

**_“Say Harry,” Fred turned too, an identical smirk on his lips._ **

**_Harry shifted a leg back just in case. A complete set of smirking Weasley twins was terrible news._ **

**_“You remember the second task of the Tournament?”_ **

**_Harry blinked, caught utterly off by the change in topic._ **

**_“Yes, obviously” he replied to Fred, giving the teen a look that asked if he were being dumb on purpose._ **

**_Harry had literally lived through the bloody tournament just last year. It was rather difficult to forget all that trauma the blasted Tournament had put him through so easily, no matter how much Harry wished he could do that._ **

**_“Well then, why did you have little Ronniekins as the person you’d miss most?” George inquired casually._ **

**_Harry turned his ‘are you serious’ look to George instead._ **

**_“He’s my best friend. The entire school knows that,” he told George with a deadpan expression._ **

**_“Just a,” Fred started._ **

**_“Best friend?” George continued._ **

**_“Nothing more?” the two chorused at him._ **

**_Harry blinked, confused._ **

**_“He’s literally my best friend! What more can he be than that?”_ **

**_The twins seemed to pause and give Harry a soul-searching look. Harry squirmed, wondering if they were expecting some more. But what was he supposed to say? Ron was his best friend. That was the highest relationship he had with anyone – barring his recently discovered godson-godfather relation with Sirius from two years back. Ron was literally one of the few people Harry cared for the most. The boy was honestly a brother in all but blood to Harry – Oh._ **

**_Perhaps that was what the twins wanted to know?_ **

**_“Well, um –” Harry fidgeted as twin sets of brown eyes snapped to him again, abandoning their silent twin conversation. “I mean I do consider Ron like a brother of sorts, if you know what I mean?”_ **

**_Harry fumbled._ **

**_“Not that I’ve any experience or anything but like – you know –he’s my best mate.”_ **

**_Harry paused and twiddled with the sleeves of his large hand-me-down shirt. He watched warily as the twins’ eyes seemed to soften as they looked at him._ **

**_Cheeks burning slightly, he looked away, unsure why he couldn’t suddenly meet their fond gazes. His heart was racing for some reason._ **

**_Was he falling sick?_ **

**_“Harry,” George spoke up, a slightly exasperated but fond tone in his voice. “You’re completely –”_ **

**_“Utterly –” Fred continued._ **

**_“Most adorably –”_ **

**_Harry felt his face heating as he resolutely didn’t meet the twins’ eyes._ **

**_“Endearingly –”_ **

**_Harry hoped he wasn’t resembling a tomato._ **

**_“Dense!” the twins finished in sync._ **

**_Harry snapped his head to the smirking twins, confused._ **

**_“Huh?” he articulated. “I’m not dense.”_ **

**_“How about clueless then, sweetheart?” Fred asked with a teasing lilt to his voice._ **

**_Harry glared at him, ignoring the term of endearment._ **

**_“I’m not clueless!” He snapped. Then paused. “What am I clueless for again?”_ **

**_The twins chuckled and took a step forward together._ **

**_Harry moved backwards out of instinct._ **

**_Bad move. The twins seemed to zero in on him more intensely for that action. Harry gulped nervously._ **

**_“Say Harrykins,” Fred started off again, resuming his walk towards Harry as he started to speak._ **

**_“The reason you ran off just now,” George continued with a glint in his eyes as he too walked towards Harry._ **

**_“It wouldn’t have anything to do with,” Fred pressed._ **

**_“Me having woken up beside you today?” George finished._ **

**_Harry’s eyes widened before he could stop himself. He cursed silently as he noted the twins had seen his expression before he could wipe it off. He thought frantically of the ways he could make an escape from the unpleasant conversation he was finding himself in. But all his thoughts were cut off when he suddenly found his back hitting against a random tree trunk due to all the backtracking he had been doing while the twins advanced on him. He was cornered._ **

**_“No,” he denied, engaging reluctantly in the conversation as the option to run off vanished for him. “Not at all.”_ **

**_Judging from the twins’ smirks, neither believed him as they kept walking closer._ **

**_“So, you mean to say that nothing about us being this close to you, makes you uncomfortable?” George asked._ **

**_He and Fred had already come dangerously close to invading Harry’s personal bubble._ **

**_“No,” Harry replied shakily._ **

**_His heart had gone well past racing to beating very, very thunderously. Harry was seriously starting to believe that he was falling sick. Nothing else explained his current fuzzy and uncomfortably tingly feelings that were coursing through his veins._ **

**_“Really?” Fred asked, stepping closer and invading his personal bubble casually. “Not even now?”_ **

**_Harry shook his head even as he pressed himself further into the tree trunk._ **

**_“Are you sure?” George whispered from right beside his twin, a leering expression on his face._ **

**_Harry gulped. He was feeling strangely claustrophobic all of a sudden._ **

**_“Ok, maybe I do?” he admitted uncertainly, hoping that would make the twins back off._ **

**_“Oh, do you?” Fred leaned in very dangerously close._ **

**_Harry turned away from the boy, only for the action to shift him closer to George. He cursed internally._ **

**_“Oh? Why do you think this happens, Harry darling?” George whispered from where he was close to Harry’s left ear._ **

**_Harry shivered at the sensation of warm breath tickling his skin._ **

**_“I don’t know George,” he hissed. “Maybe because you and your twin are being nosy gits who invade other’s personal bubble?_ **

**_He was really finding it hard to breathe suddenly. Harry let his eyes dart between Fred and George, looking for an escape._ **

**_The twins, noticing his actions, leaned closer to him, pressing on him from either side._ **

**_He could very distinctly feel how both Fred’s right thigh and George’s left thigh rubbed against his legs. Harry shuddered as the feverish feeling within him intensified._ **

**_He was falling sick. For sure. There was no other explanation._ **

**_“But weren’t you saying you had no problem with waking up this close to me, Harry?” George asked innocently. “Plus I’m not George, I’m Fred.”_ **

**_Harry rolled his eyes._ **

**_“You’re George,” he told George with an unimpressed._ **

**_“No I am,” Fred insisted with a cheeky smile from his left._ **

**_“You’re not,” Harry replied with a huff._ **

**_“No, I am George,” Fred replied back with a smirk, obviously enjoying the way Harry was getting riled._ **

**_“You’re not,” Harry replied, glaring at his feet._ **

**_“He is,” George insisted._ **

**_“Last time I checked, the twin that told me he was Fred on the Hogwarts Express had two more freckles on his right cheek than his twin who he introduced as George,” Harry snapped back, annoyed at them both. “Plus, I’ve checked the Marauders map before. You’re not George, Fred. You can’t pull of George’s smirk as well and your hair is darker, plus George honestly needs to keep that one strand of hair that constantly falls on his eyes away somehow – ”_ **

**_Harry paused as he realised that the twins had stilled beside him and looked up to find them both staring at him rather like they were seeing him for the first time. He looked back down avoiding the intense gazes of the twins, wishing he could somehow get them to move away._ **

**_What had he been thinking, just spewing off their differences like that? They probably already knew it all better than him._ **

**_His eyes caught sight of the wines decorating his left arm._ **

**_An image of Dudley hanging upside down beside him floated to his head._ **

**_If only –_ **

**_“You sure know how to surprise people, don’t you, Harry?” George eventually whispered from his right._ **

**_Harry didn’t look up again, embarrassed beyond his wits. He wanted space. Now._ **

**_“Come on Harrykins,” Fred whispered dangerously close from his right, casually resting an arm above Harry’s head, caging him in even more._ **

**_Harry stared hard at the vines on his hand, wishing somehow, they would understand his thoughts. How he wished he could converse with them in his head, like they did with him._ **

**_“Harry sweetheart,” George’s voice came from his right, turning deep and slightly husky. “It’s rude to ignore people while they talk to you.”_ **

**_Harry shivered. His breath was starting to catch too frequently in his throat, leaving him light-headed._ **

**_“Move away please,” he whispered weakly to the two, even as he continued drilling holes into the vines on his arm._ **

**_"Why?” George asked with that teasing lilt to his voice. “You said you were fine with our closeness.”_ **

**_“I lied,” Harry admitted reluctantly. “I don’t particularly feel comfortable at all.”_ **

**_He could feel the twins smirk without looking at them._ **

**_“Why not, Harry?” Fred’s breath was ticking his neck and the teen casually place his free hand across Harry’s stomach, pulling him closer by his waist despite his resistance._ **

**_Harry felt that delightful heat from whenever one of the twins were touching him nowadays spread across his abdomen. His throat become dry and the feeling of vulnerability in him increased._ **

**_“Come on, Harry bear,” George whispered from his right, equally too-close to Harry, though he didn’t mimic his twin in touching Harry._ **

**_Harry pushed himself further back into the tree, ignoring how its bark roughly pressed into his back. Fred’s grip mercifully loosened around him though the boy had yet to let go._ **

**_Harry was getting reminded of that time when he was six when Dudley and his gang of bullies had cornered him alone and circled around him during recess. There had been no escape and they had all been too close to him._ **

**_But even though this current situation felt equally terrifying, Harry didn’t feel afraid like when he was six. Harry did firmly believe that the twins wouldn’t hurt him no matter what. Even though he thought maybe this particular bout of their teasing – different from their usual teasing as it was – was getting a bit too out of hand._ **

**_The shivers running down his spine with the way Fred was caressing his side honestly delighted him. Though he was confused as to why._ **

**_“I think I’m starting to get claustrophobic,” he told them softly, voice raspy. “Just move._ **

**_Perhaps he should reach out with his magic to the vines? He sent a few frantic tendrils of his magic out towards his left hand, wishing hard for help, praying the vines would understand._ **

**_“Harrykins, I assure you, what you’re feeling isn’t claustrophobia, darling,” Fred spoke up from his left, though his voice did sound a bit further away. He noted that George’s breath no longer tickled his face from the right either._ **

**_But Fred’s hand had yet to bloody let go._ **

**_Harry felt he might catch just burst into flames if Fred stroked his waist one more time._ **

**_“Oh?” Harry rasped out, still finding it difficult to speak. “Pray tell me what else is making me this nervous?”_ **

**_He wished he didn’t have to reveal that last bit but he just wanted the twins to move away more. Anything to get them to move away more. He liked the giddiness that came with their presence but something inside him feared it too._ **

**_The last time he had felt so light-headed was honestly when he was exhausted from his encounter with Voldemort in the graveyard due to their fight and the blood he had had lost that night. Though now with the twins, the unsteadiness he was feeling undeniably had a touch of pleasantness unlike the experience at the graveyard._ **

**_Harry blinked, trying to stop remembering all his bad memories in the middle of his current situation._ **

**_Plus, if he really was falling sick, he didn’t want to pass on his sickness to the twins even by accident._ **

**_“Come one Harrykins, do you not realise what you’re feeling right now?”_ **

**_Harry closed his eyes and shook his head slowly, wondering where all the air had gone. He didn’t understand. Not one bit. Everything was confusing him. He wished all these feelings would leave him for a moment._ **

**_He absently felt his magic connect properly with the green beings twined around his arm._ **

_It will be done_ , **_whispery voices sounded across his mind._**

**_Harry waited. The vines on his hand didn’t move but Harry trusted them to help. The plants had so far never let him down._ **

**_“Harry?” George whispered gently. “ Open your eyes.”_ **

**_“You don’t need to be so scared,” Fred continued. “We’re not –”_ **

**_Harry didn’t get to hear Fred finish. For at that moment, both the twins suddenly were hauled off from his vicinity by two pairs of thick vines that had creeped up from them from behind._ **

**_The vines from his arm sent him soothing feelings and he opened his eyes to see the twins dangling ten feet away from him, held up by vines that were attached to a tree nearby._ **

**_“Hey!” twin shouts of indignation sounded through the air._ **

**_Harry took in a deep breath as he felt his skin cooling. He had yet to feel fine but without the twins hovering so close, he felt a bit better. Cold but better._ **

**_But a part of him wished the twins were still close by like before despite all the tension they’d put him under. He had liked their closeness. Had liked Fred’s arm across his waist and George’s warm breath ghosting down his neck._ **

**_Harry groaned, confused by his thoughts. He had just been wishing the two would move away seconds ago. Now he wanted them near again?_ **

**_He didn’t like feeling so overwhelmed by unknown emotions, honestly._ **

**_Unable to help himself, he slumped down the tree he was leaning against and brought his head to his knees, shaking slightly._ **

**_Something was seriously wrong with him, he thought._ **

**_“Harry?”_ **

**_Fred’s voice – Harry thought it was Fred at least since the voice came from his left – sounded concerned. He noted that the struggle Fred and George had previously been outing against the vines holding them captive had quietened._ **

**_“Are you ok?”_ **

**_Harry looked up solely to shoot a glare at Fred for daring to ask that after what the twins had been doing. Whatever it was that they had been doing._ **

**_Fred had the decency to look sheepish._ **

**_“Ok, ok,” Fred placated with his hands up – though to Harry it was dangling down since the teen was hanging upside down. “We may have taken it a bit too far, it seems.”_ **

**_Harry glared harder._ **

**_“Alright,” George added from where he was slowly turning around from where he was dangled. “We took it a bit further than a bit too far. We’re sorry!”_ **

**_Harry transferred the dirty look he was throwing Fred to George._ **

**_“I told you to move away!” he hissed out weakly._ **

**_“We got too excited,” George muttered back in reply._ **

**_Harry glared._ **

**_“To harass me? Seriously?” Harry snapped as he felt his strength return slowly._ **

**_“No!” Fred cut in. “Harry seriously, do you not understand what we’ve been doing?”_ **

**_Harry gave a deadpan stare._ **

**_“Harassing me,” he repeated sullenly._ **

**_“No Harrykins,” George groaned from beside his twin, face red with all the blood rushing down to his head due to being upside down. “We were teasing yes, but we weren’t trying to harass you –”_ **

**_“What else is cornering me and interrogating me against my wishes supposed to be?” Harry cut in angrily. “I’m already feeling all sick and light-headed, you didn’t need to prank and tease me right now.”_ **

**_Harry curled up further around his knees, sulking._ **

**_“And do those light-headed feelings have anything to do with our presence?” Fred asked._ **

**_Harry’s cheeks pinked._ **

**_“No,” he bit out._ **

**_“You’re a terrible liar, Harry,” George grinned from where he was still dangling._ **

**_Harry shot the teen a glare._ **

**_“I’m not lying. I’ve just been feeling sick.”_ **

**_“You’re so clueless, Harry bear,” Fred sighed._ **

**_Harry got up angrily to his feet._ **

**_“Fine then! I’ll remain clueless! I’ll remain clueless on how to get you two down!”_ **

**_He started to stomp away, done with all himself, his stupid feelings and the twins’ antics. If he didn’t like them so much, he would asked the vines to jolt them around just out of spite to get them feeling sick._ **

**_“Wait Harry –”_ **

**_Harry didn’t bother to hear what Fred had to say. He left them there to go find Sirius. He’d let his godfather bother with freeing the twins. He wasn’t going to bother anymore with the twins for the day. Not at all._ **

Harry blinked and cleared his head from the flashback. Thinking about that particular day was so strange to him. Ever since that day, when the twins had realised their presence caused him unrest, they had mercilessly stuck closer to him, continuing the teasing they did, though they did take care not to push Harry completely off the edge like the first time.

 _Yes, they must be taking revenge_ , Harry told Hedwig.

Hedwig sent him exasperated feelings and Harry frowned up at her, taking care not to completely tilt his head and cause her to fall.

_Youngling, do you know anything about mates?_

Harry spotted something move in the dark before him and his thoughts returned to his original goal for coming up to attic again.

 _Course I do,_ he told Hedwig absently. _Ron’s my best mate._

Hedwig seemed shocked by this and went utterly still above his head. Harry wondered why. He had long told the owl Hermione and Ron were his best friends.

"Buckbeak?” he called out to the dark attic, ignoring Hedwig for the moment to focus on his task.

He only had so long before the twins came hunting for him. It had taken considerable effort to convince them to let him leave their room and visit the attic after he had found out about Buckbeak’s presence there. The twins seemed to fear he would end up sleeping there despite having all his belongings, few as they were, unpacked and settled into the twins’ room.

His hand instinctively reached out for his wand, that he had gotten back with his belongings, to cast a lumos, only to pause when he remembered he was still under age.

Harry shrugged. He had new tricks up his sleeve anyways.

Reaching out like he had been taught in the forest, he connected his inner magic to magic in the environment and sought help, requesting light.

Like before, a mystery wind circled around him and happily brightened up the area.

Harry gasped out as he caught proper sight of Buckbeak finally.

“Oh, you poor thing,” he whispered.

The creature was not exactly in a bad shape. But Harry knew it was in a far worse state than it’s usual condition from when it had been under Hagrid’s care.

Though Buckbeak didn’t look underfed, the hippogriff’s feathers had certainly loss their shine and it’s horse body certainly didn’t have a healthy gloss no more. Besides, Harry could draw in from personal experience that having to be cooped up in a small dark space, with not much space to move and no company must have been a terrible transition for Buckbeak. It certainly had been for him the first summer away from Hogwarts.

Buckbeak, who by now had noticed Harry’s presence properly too had trotted over. To Harry’s surprise, the creature had come close to him and nuzzled its beak with a happy purr even before he had the chance to bow down and gain its approval.

Harry hoped this development was due to his unexpected status as “Earth’s heir” like the goblins had told him briefly and not due to Buckbeak being seriously deprived of companionship.

He doubted it could truly be the latter. He had faith his godfather would not leave the poor creature completely alone all this time without visits.

But that seriously made him question this new status he had gained. With all the information that the goblins had to tell him about his vaults and family, they hadn’t had enough time to explain their actual order of business more, so Harry’s knowledge on why plants and animals suddenly liked him more than usual was still non-existent.

He rubbed the hippogriff’s beak fondly, laying his head on it briefly in a semblance of a hug.

“Hello Beaky,” he greeted the creature with Hagrid’s nickname for it, knowing the hippogriff liked it.

Buckbeak indeed gave a delighted cry at the familiar name.

“You’ve been cooped up here long, haven’t you?” he asked.

Buckbeak gave a sad screech.

Harry’s heart _clenched_. He wished he could help the being somehow.

His eyes caught sight of the magic current still buzzing in the air as it gave the attic light. A crazy, crazy idea popped in Harry’s head.

“I think it’s high time someone helped you out here, Beaky,” he told the being gently. “I’m going to try something.”

Ignoring Buckbeak’s questioning amber eyes, Harry reached out again to the magic around him, requesting help to first expand the attic so that Buckbeak no longer had to feel cramped.

Magic swirled around him, buzzing happily at his request. Harry felt his inner magic soar out under some guidance and push against the attic’s walls.

An excited cry from Buckbeak told him he had succeeded.

He opened his eyes and smiled as Buckbeak nudged him with his beak in gratitude while unfolding its wings completely to span it comfortably across the expanded attic.

(And by expanded, Harry honestly had made the room a good twenty times bigger with magic’s help.)

 _I’m not done yet_ , Harry told the majestic creature and grinned at the flash of surprise that passed through the being’s eyes at his telepathic connection to it. _Just watch, Beaky._

With a silent request to the magic around him and his own leafy companions’ help, Harry soon had the room decorated with vines that housed the glowing bell flowers he had seen during his stay in the forest. The beautiful flowers filled the dreary attic Buckbeak was cooped up in with golden light along with magic’s own shimmering presence.

Buckbeak moved away to prance happily around the flowers, curious and excited.

But Harry still had more on his mind. He reached out to magic again.

Soon soft grass and colourful flowers were sprouting from the floor, blatantly going against all of nature’s law to shoot up from attic’s concrete ground. A rather miniature version of an oak tree also appeared near the corner of the expanded attic.

 _Good job youngling, you sharpening your claws often,_ Hedwig hooted softly into his mind from atop his head.

He rolled his eyes at his owl. Hedwig seemed to have made it her life’s goal at getting Harry to use his magic without his wand ever since finding out no one taught her wizard to “sharpen his claws” as she put it.

Though Harry did note that Hedwig’s voice seemed distracted when she had spoken in his mind. He got the distinct feeling Hedwig was still reeling in shock from their previous conversation. Though he still didn’t know why.

 _It’s not about the claws right now, Hedwig,_ Harry told her gently, not bothering to probe yet. _It’s about making our friend happy._

 _It can be both matters youngling_ , was Hedwig’s absent reply.

Harry rolled his eyes.

Before him Buckbeak was spreading his wings again with a delighted cry. Harry smiled and watched as a shiver of happiness travelled down the hippogriff’s body. But he still felt a small pang at not having the power to expand the attic vertically, so that Buckbeak could fly around a bit. Even though the magic and all had been easy to do with his new companions’ guide, it still drained him.

Plus, Harry had felt something resisting him when he tried it anyways – likely some sort of ward – and his gut told him not to push it. The last thing he wanted was for the roof to collapse on him and his companions.

He rubbed Buckbeak’s beak fondly once the being trotted back towards him, its claws no longer making scraping noises on the attic’s new soft floor.

 _I’ll get you out of here when I get the chance, alright?_ He told the hippogriff gently. _And when I do, you’ll be able to soar through the skies like you used to, free and happy. But until then, bear with this place, please? And don’t get too miffed at my godfather for making you stay here. He’s equally as trapped here as you are Bucky._

Harry laid his head against the hippogriff’s giant beak with a sad sigh.

_The only difference between you and him is that he gets to move around the house while you’re stuck to this one room._

Harry blinked before looking up at the hippogriff again.

“Actually,” he muttered out loud for a change. “Why should you be stuck in this attic, Buckbeak?”

The hippogriff snorted, shaking its head. Harry understood that to be Buckbeak’s way of saying he had no clue himself. The being had yet to figure out how to respond to Harry in his mind, it seemed.

Harry gave a mischievous grin.

“Well, if there isn’t any good reason, then I suppose there will be no harm in me bringing you around when I tour around the house tomorrow, hmm?”

Buckbeak gave a happy screech at that which Harry took to be the equivalent of a chuckle in human terms.

He smiled then blinked as Buckbeak’s gaze shifted towards his left shoulder, a curious gleam entering its eyes. Harry knew what Buckbeak was looking at. The hippogriff had been staring at his shoulder frequently, ever since Harry stepped into the attic ten minutes ago.

 _Alright, alright,_ Harry switched back to mind speak with the creature. _Let me satisfy your curiosity. This is my newest friend, Puck. He’s a baby water lizard._

Harry took the sleeping lizard from his shoulder and cradled it in his arms.

 _He’s still a baby. So, he sleeps a lot,_ Harry told the hippogriff which was looming over his hands with bright eyes. _Didn’t Hedwig introduce you to him just now?_

Buckbeak shook his head and Pale Pink casually informed him that they had all been chatting in the dark so the hippogriff hadn’t managed to get to know about Puck who had been silent and sleeping. Hedwig remained silent and Harry could feel from the close bond he shared with her that she was deep in thought. And still in shock.

He frowned, worried for his owl but Buckbeak’s intense stare at Puck distracted him.

He wondered if Buckbeak was hungry.

 _No eating him, please!_ He added hastily. _Puck is strictly off limits as food._

Harry was happy when the look Buckbeak shot him was not one of disappointment but rather one that said ‘I’m not stupid, human’. He wasn’t even miffed by the hippogriff glaring at him. He was more relieved that his little Puck wasn’t going to end up being dinner if he ever accidentally looked away from it.

He’d grown really protective of the lizard, especially since the creature had chosen to stick with Harry instead of staying in the forest where it had been born in.

A nudge at his right cheek had Harry turning to look at Pale Pink which had somehow ended up hanging upside down from the ceiling. The flower pointed a leaf to some vines that were dangling alongside it. Said vines held a lot of orange coloured plum-like fruits and one lone fiery-red flower.

Harry’s eyes lit up.

_Oh, we have dinner!_

Tickling Puck to wake the lizard up, Harry settled down onto the grassy floor of the attic with a happy sigh. Buckbeak mimicked him and settled down, tucking his clawed feet under his body as he knelt down completely.

Harry placed a cluster of the orange fruits near Buckbeak, urging the creature to give it a try, assuring the sceptic hippogriff that if it was something Buckbeak couldn’t consume, Harry wouldn’t be offering it to the creature in the first place. (He had already checked with Pale Pink telepathically to confirm Buckbeak could also eat the fruits.)

Then he proceeded to give Puck his flower, letting the lizard suck and drink the nectar from the thing contently on his lap.

Once he was sure Puck was doing fine, Harry joined Buckbeak in enthusiastically eating the fruits. The vines above happily gave them more when he and the hippogriff finished their first round of the delicious fruits and wanted some more.

* * *

Back in Fred and George’s room, the twins were taking the time to talk. Silently.

_“Weird, isn’t it?”_

Fred turned around to face his twin and raised his eyebrow.

_“This whole telepathy thing. I would have thought it would have ended when we left the forest.”_

Fred sighed, giving the equivalent of a mental nod in his mind and went back to staring blankly at the ceiling. Said ceiling was dreadfully bare and boring but for once in his life, Fred did not care to think of anything to change it.

He knew George did not either.

It was one of those rare times where he and his twins were disinterested in causing chaos.

Some people thought such times never existed. They were wrong. Even Fred and George had their own moments of wanting some peace and quiet despite being the incarnate of mischief and mayhem themselves.

_“Why do you reckon this is still happening?”_

Fred paused his internal thoughts and pondered over his twin’s question.

_“Maybe there is a lag? Magical residues and effects from rituals are said to linger for some while, remember? Bill always did mention that when he recounted his Curse Breaker adventures. This is probably similar…”_

The younger twin adjusted himself to fully lie on his left side, giving up the sight of the ceiling to better see his brother. George mirrored his position on his own bed which was placed (read: rearranged) right beside Fred’s.

Fred stared at the face that was a copy of his own, not minding how close it was at all. He had always felt better with having his twin brother pretty much glued to his side rather than being far away from him. He knew it was the same for George.

_“But why exactly are we talking like this when we are right next to each other, brother dearest?”_

George shrugged the shoulder not pressed into his mattress.

_“Many reasons, Freddie. If what you said was true, it means we have a limited time period with this ability. Plus it’s extremely convenient to converse like this.”_

Fred smirked.

_“You forgot the prime reason: You’re lazy, Georgie.”_

George did not bother denying it. It was true.

_“But so are you, Freddie.”_

Fred did not bother denying it either.

The two lay in silence for a while.

_“So, are we going to talk about the matter on both of our minds?”_

_“You mean the person, Georgie.”_

_“Well yes.”_

Fred but his lip, not really wanting to talk about it since he knew where his twin was bringing this to.

 _“Do we have to talk about this?”_ Fred whined.

 _“Freddie,”_ George frowned back. _“I don’t want anything to happen to our relationship. So that means talki_ _ng about this situation we are in.”_

Fred sighed.

 _“You’re usually more reserved, you know,”_ Fred grumbled to his twin in his mind as he pouted at his brother.

 _“Well usually you wouldn’t be shying away from the topic so I wouldn’t have to bring it up,”_ George replied back without missing a beat.

Fred sighed again.

 _“Fine, fine. We have a problem. Harrykins like the both of us,”_ Fred pouted. _“And it’s not like the times when someone had a crush on us both_ _because we had the same face either.”_

Fred found his pout deepening. He couldn’t help his sulky state. He didn’t like the current pickle he and his twin were stuck in.

 _“Yeah,”_ George replied with his own sigh.

Fred could tell from the way his twin’s eyes were dimmed that the matter was troubling George as much as it was troubling Fred.

Fred and George were not going to lie. Both of them had been thrilled to realise that Harry had a crush on them. They had initially teased him together for the fun of it, wanting to team up and rile the boy up for liking them romantically. The plan had been to figure out who the boy truly liked eventually – they had had their fair share of experience where people liked one of them but just couldn’t find the right twin to confess to when the time to confess came, you see. But they had been stumped, despite not outwardly showing it to Harry, when they realised the younger boy had a crush on them _both_.

Now realising Harry – sweet, little Harry who could _tell the Weasley twins apart­ –_ liking both him and his brother was a complicating factor in life.

Because unlike what people thought, Fred and George didn’t share _everything_ in their lives. Well at least not one thing in particular.

Now Fred and George have always done _most_ things together, yes, it was true. From their first words to their first pranks, the two of them have never wavered in going through life in sync. It was their ultimate goal to be indistinguishable from one another.

They didn’t really know why and how such a goal had come between them. It could have been the fact that they were _magical_ twins who shared twin cores that were linked between them, facilitating this desire to always be close. It could also be due to the fact that growing up, they had always found had a built-in friend and support system in their twin, which made life easier while they lived in the Burrow where a lot happened due to the large family. But it just happened. And Fred and George didn’t mind that goal one bit.

(Of course, there was a brief, vague period where they had not liked being mistaken for each other but that tale is for another time and is not very relevant now.)

However, for all their collaborated mischief and twin unity goals, there was _one_ thing that the twins had no desire to experience together.

And that was their love life.

For all their togetherness, Fred and George had always been sure about who they were as individuals. Even when most of the friends and family mistook their identities. In fact, the constant identity crisis others had when it came to Weasley twins had only served to strengthen Fred and George’s desire to be sure of what they liked as individuals, despite functioning as inseparable twins.

And as individuals, Fred and George had no desire to get their love interests mixed up between the two of them. Sure, that never stopped them from occasionally pranking their crush/date by confusing them about their identity now and then, but when it came to the actual pursuit, they had always made clear who was who, and who was after who.

Fred and George had been so adamant about this rule, which was honestly the only rule the twins would ever admit they abided by in their lives, that they had even had prepared themselves for situations where they both had crushes on the same person or if someone had crushes on them both.

The solution had been relatively simple.

If the crush liked them both, the twin that liked the crush back could pursue them under one condition. The crush wasn’t going to come between their relationship as twins due to their infatuation. If neither liked the person, they would, as gently as possible, reject them.

For the problem of when they both had the same crush, the twins had decided that the crush would get to decide which twin they liked back (if they liked them back at all). And that would be the end of the crisis.

Plus, the twin that gets chosen will obviously pursue their crush while _simultaneously_ being a good support system for their twin brother who may call upon them anytime to grieve and rant at being crushed by their crush.

It had been solid solutions to the twins.

But the truth was, you see, Fred and George had never experienced either situations in all their seventeen years of life, no matter how prepared they had been for that.

Turns out that despite all their similarities and preferences, the Weasley twins never did fall for the same person. At least not during the same period of time as each other. So, they had never had to figure out how awkward such a situation would truly be.

Until one Harry James Potter had a bisexuality awakening without realising that is.

Fred looked closely at his brother, who stared back at him calmly.

_“So, you like him.”_

George hummed his confirmation.

_“And you like him too.”_

Fred nodded solemnly.

 _“And Harry likes both of us, for our separate individual identities too,”_ they finished in sync.

Silence stretched between the twins for a while.

_“We are so screwed Georgie.”_

_“That we are Freddie.”_

Fred turned to lie back on his back, staring unseeingly at the ceiling.

 _“Can you believe Harrykins just casually screwed us over like this? I mean he doesn’t even realise that he’s bisexual yet but he’s made us get stuck in our made-up rules without even realising it,”_ Fred grumbled.

George chuckled beside him and Fred let his lips tilt up just a bit.

 _“But honestly, I still can’t really believe Harry likes us. The both of us. Feels so surreal,”_ George muttered into his mind.

Fred smirked.

_“Oh, I think I can believe it, Georgie. Who could resist us? We are perfection doubled.”_

George rolled his eyes and swatted him out of exasperation. Fred took the swat with a grin, used to the action by now. He had always been the vainer of the two, anyways. In fact, he seemed to have enough vanity for the both of them combined.

Fred thought it was quite alright because George was the humbler twin. He was too humble in Fred’s opinion but he supposed that balanced out things between them.

 _“Don’t get too cocky yet, Harry said I smirked better than you,”_ George teased.

Fred stuck his tongue out at his brother like the mature person that he was. George chuckled again.

Silence stretched between the two of them for a while.

_“Hey Freddie.”_

Fred hummed in question.

_“You still like him?”_

Sheepish emerald orbs and pink coated cheeks flashed across Fred’s mind. He smiled.

 _“Yeah,”_ he replied with a sigh as he turned back to face George.

Fred played absently with the button on his twin’s robe.

_“Do you still like him?”_

The answer was obvious in the goofy grin spreading across his twin’s face but George still responded.

_“Yeah.”_

Fred smiled tiredly, already envisioning the chaos this new development was going to cause in their lives.

_“We’re screwed, Georgie. Royally screwed.”_

George laughed.

* * *

Hedwig seemed to have gone past her shock by the time Buckbeak, Puck and Harry had finished their meals. However, as Buckbeak drifted off into a peaceful sleep and Puck ran about curiously around the attic, the snowy owl had descended into a state of angry pouting and glares.

Harry didn’t know what had triggered it and certainly didn’t know why _he_ was the victim who received Hedwig’s reproachful glares.

He managed to crack through Hedwig’s sulking quick enough to figure it out though. There were great perks to being able to mind speak with your owl, it seemed. It tired them quickly to keep being pressed for answers in their mind, so arguments really ended sooner rather than later.

 _Hedwig, at least tell me why you are angry_ , he inquired for the fifteenth time.

 _You didn’t tell me that you had a mate! A best mate at that!_ Hedwig snapped as she caved to his questioning.

Harry blinked,

_I have though._

_No, you have not, youngling! How could you keep such information from me? I raised you better than this!_

Harry rolled his eyes at how conveniently Hedwig seemed to have forgotten that she had only been with him for slightly more than four years.

 _Hedwig, I’ve told you plenty of times that Ron is my best friend, though,_ he pointed out gently.

_No you –_

Hedwig stilled.

Harry stared at her hopefully, thinking that perhaps Hedwig finally remembered all the times he had babbled about his time with Ron and Hermione.

_Oh, youngling you are so bad at this!_

Harry blinked. What now?

_Harry, I wasn’t asking for your knowledge on friends before this. I was asking you about your knowledge on mates!_

Harry frowned.

_I told you – OH!_

Harry’s eyes widened as he finally realised what mates referred to in Hedwig’s terms.

His cheeks reddened.

 _Hedwig!_ He looked at the snowy owl with mortified eyes. _Why were you_ _asking about that?_

Hedwig gave him a deadpan stare.

_Because you don’t seem to realise what those same-but-different boys are trying to tell you through their advancements. The poor things have been so dedicated in showing you they wanted to mate with you since you revealed you were interested in them._

Harry froze at that.

Fred and George? Mate with him?

Wait – _he_ was _interested_ in them? What?!

Harry felt rather woozy all of a sudden.

He thought back on all the butterflies in his stomach and the way the twins’ gazes made him freeze. The scorching touches, the heated gazes, the way his heart _thundered_ as they twins stepped too close for comfort.

Something clicked in his head.

The whole time he had spent with the twins had honestly been a more intense version of his infatuation with Cho Chang since last year.

Harry slumped into the hippogriff beside him.

 _I like the twins_ , he muttered to Hedwig shocked.

His confession seemed to sink in properly. His eyes widened.

 _I like both of the twins,_ he whispered horrified into Hedwig’s mind.

 _They like you too,_ his owl piped out as though in reminder.

That jolted Harry out of his daze – slightly.

 _How would you know?_ He asked the owl, still very much reeling in shock.

 _Well, it became rather obvious with the way they went at you against the tree, youngling,_ Hedwig replied.

Harry choked on nothing.

 _What?_ he squeaked at his owl.

Hedwig gave him an unimpressed expression.

_How are you so dense, youngling? Are you honestly telling me you didn’t even think of the possibility that the two liked you? Not even when you were the one getting touched and teased while cornered against a tree? The whole woods knew when they witnessed the lingering touches those two had been giving you each time they got the opportunity to be near you. Though we did wonder why you had stomped off from them the first time they advanced on you, when you clearly returned their feelings…_

Harry gaped at his familiar.

 _What?_ he asked weakly.

 _Youngling has no one given you the spring talk?_ Hedwig asked, exasperated.

 _S-spring talk?_ Harry asked, confused.

_The one where they tell you about mating youngling._

_No. not really,_ Harry whispered weakly in response.

Hedwig blinked.

 _Well, that explains things,_ the owl replied succinctly.

* * *

It was quite a considerable while later that Harry broke the silence in the attic.

 _Hedwig?_ he voiced out hesitantly.

_Yes youngling?_

_Um, do you not find it weird?_

Hedwig gave Harry a blank stare.

_Find what weird?_

Harry swallowed.

 _The fact that the two I have a crush on –_ Harry paused, rephrasing the terms to better suit Hedwig’s vocabulary. _Well the fact that my two potential mates are males?_

Harry twiddled his thumbs.

_Or that there are two of them?_

Hedwig tilted her head.

 _No youngling. I can’t do anything if you choose to like males and why would it matter if you had two mates? You will be happy if you mated with them, won’t you?_ Hedwig asked.

Harry blushed at the way Hedwig used her words.

 _I suppose I would but –_ Harry swallowed nervously. _Back where I used to live with the Dursleys, nobody rather liked the idea of two males or two females being in love with each other._ Harry breathed out gently. _Plus, I don’t really think people in general are good with the idea of polymerous relationships, that is to say relationships with more than two mates._

Hedwig seemed to not understand.

_But it is your life youngling. Besides, there are plenty of beings who have more than one mate. And even though I do not understand your affection for two males, youngling, I’ve seen how you are happy around them. If two mates that are male are what makes you happy, what is wrong with choosing that life?_

Harry gave a small smile, not surprised the owl wasn’t really human societys’ ways.

_It’s a tad bit more complicated to do such things in the human world, Hedwig._

Harry sighed, seeing the blank stare in his familiar’s eyes.

_Never mind Hedwig. Forget what I said._

Hedwig flew over to his shoulder and preened his hair comfortingly, seemingly getting that she was not able to help fully.

Harry smiled.

 _There have been younglings who were of the same gender that frolicked back at the forest,_ a deep voice whispered across his mind.

Harry stilled before whirling around to stare at Buckbeak. The hippogriff was looking at him serenely.

_Was that you, Beaky?_

Buckbeak nodded and watched amusedly as Hedwig flew over to his back and hooted congratulations at his achievement.

 _They sneak out of the big castle those younglings,_ Buckbeak continued calmly _, and hide near the edge of the forest sometimes to frolic while others weren’t watching._

Harry blinked.

_Oh._

_I know not if they are fully mated, but they frolic all the same. I know not if any of them hold more than one mate either. But I believe the issue of being the same gender is not as terrible perhaps at the big castle._

Harry blinked and gave a small smile to the hippogriff.

_Thanks, Beaky._

_You know, you could ask that sire of yours who turns into a dog,_ Hedwig pointed out. _It is his duty to inform you of spring talks as your sire._

Harry blushed again.

_Oh Hedwig…you’re going to embarrass me to death._

Hedwig just blinked at him curiously.

* * *

Fred and George turned to look at their door as there was a knock.

“Who is it?” Fred called out, even as he walked over to the door.

“It’s –” Molly Weasley, who had been about to answer paused as Fred opened the door suddenly.

“Well, hello,” Fred greeted the group outside the door pleasantly.

His mother, younger siblings, Hermione and Remus gave him pinched expressions back, though Sirius gave a cheery wave much to Fred’s amusement.

“I take it the Order’s discussion didn’t go well?” Fred inquired pleasantly.

Molly pursed her lips.

“Well, all of the other, including Albus, are banned from the house till the day after tomorrow for the time being,” Molly informed her son.

“And they won’t try to come back before if they don’t wish to find out just how nasty the Black wards can get,” Sirius chirped up from the back of the group as he displayed his right ring finger happily, showing Fred the Lord ring of House Black again, although Fred had witnessed the man claiming it personally with George and Harry.

Fred smirked.

“That’s nice to know. But what are you guys crowding out here for?”

George had come to stand behind him by now.

“We wanted to come see Harry,” Hermione answered from where she stood beside his mother at the doorway. “We’ve got a lot to clear between him and us. Not to mention the grovelling we owe him while we apologise.”

Fred’s smirk widened.

“Well glad to know that but I’m afraid you’re going to have to wait till tomorrow morning. Harry has informed us that he very much wants to remain in his righteous fury with you lot for at least a night more.”

Fred bit back his grin as he watched all the faces, barring Sirius’, grimace before him.

“Harry isn’t the kind to hold grudges like that,” Ron muttered weakly.

“He’s feeling rather petty nowadays. Can’t blame him after what we all put him through, can we?” George spoke out from behind Fred’s right shoulder.

Everyone winced before them.

“Well at least tell the dear to come down for dinner,” Molly told the twins, sending a concerned look over Fred’s shoulder.

“Sure, we’ll tell him,” George told them.

“When he comes back to the room,” Fred finished.

“What do you mean?” Ron asked craning his neck to try and see behind Fred and George. “Isn’t he in your room? He left with you, didn’t he? Sirius said so. And we couldn’t find him in any other rooms!”

Fred rolled his eyes though he stopped when he saw his mother’s disapproving gaze.

“Yes, he came with us to our room,” Fred answered succinctly in a rather edited summary of what actually happened. “But he left a while ago to visit Buckbeak.

“Alone?” Molly questioned sharply.

“Well, we tried to accompany him,” Fred elaborated.

“He effectively dissuaded us from the idea by throwing us across the room onto our beds with those leafy friends of his,” George finished.

“For vines, those damn things are extremely strong, we tell you,” the twins ended their tale with grimaces.

Ginny and Hermione giggled at their dramatics while Remus and Sirius shot smirks at them.

“You shouldn’t have underestimated my pup,” Sirius told them with a smirk. “You two especially should have realised by now how capable he is at leaving you _hanging_ if you irk and _tease_ him too much.”

Fred couldn’t help the pink that dusted his cheeks at that reminder and judging from George’s sudden coughs, his twin was no better.

“Noted Sirius,” Fred told the man, pointedly refusing to meet the curious looks the others shot him and his twins. “If that’s all, we’re going to go back to our own things –”

“Wait!” Ron interrupted. “Let me take Harry’s stuff to my room first at least –”

“Not going to happen,” George cut in coolly, though Fred though only he and maybe Sirius noted the possessive undertone in his twin’s voice. “Harry’s bunking with us.”

Fred watched in amusement as the entire group blinked in surprise at that, though Sirius shot him and George warning glares. He felt George shiver slightly beside him at Sirius’ rather cold stare. Wanting to reassure the man, Fred subtly acknowledged the threat Sirius was promising with a nod, assuring without words that neither he nor his twin were going to push any boundaries against Harry’s comfort while alone.

“Seriously you guys,” Fred started, returning his attention to the rest after that quick and silent interaction with Sirius. “You don’t honestly believe his stuff is in our room by accident or something do you? If Harry had wanted to bunk with you Ron, we would know have directed him to your room.”

“Which we did,” George added. “He just didn’t want to share a room with you though.”

Ron scowled.

“Why not?”

“What part of he’s mad at you lot did you not understand, Ronniekins?” George sighed out.

Ron reddened, evidently having forgotten that matter.

“He isn’t angry at you two then?” Ginny asked curiously, speaking up for the first time.

“Oh Sirius, George and I have long done our share of grovelling when we went to find Harry, sister dearest,” Fred answered, wincing at the reminder.

Beside him, he could feel George sigh, this time in pain.

“That bad?” Remus asked curiously.

“Ask Sirius,” the twins chorused, too traumatised to respond.

Sirius shot the twins a betrayed look and sighed as all the attention turned to him.

“You lot are lucky you aren’t doing your grovelling in the middle of a forest which serves to give Harry a lot of ammunition when angry,” he told in reply. “He attacked us during our second evening with him with a hell lot of snakes, vines, porcupines and blue lizards. Almost drowned us too.”

Everyone winced.

“Why wait till the second day’s evening?” Hermione asked curiously, slightly dreading the answer.

“First evening there with Harry was rather spent catching up and telling him what happened while he had been isolated,” Fred chimed in.

“Plus we also had to break it to him that everyone in the Order knew about his home life,” George confessed with a wince.

“The morning after, things happened with the goblins and by the time it all somewhat sunk into Harry’s brain, he started lashing out at the three of us vehemently for our share of his isolation and misery,” Sirius finished dejectedly.

The entire group grimaced collectively.

“I’ll suggest honestly, that you wait for him to cool down and approach him tomorrow morning,” George commented.

“Preferably after breakfast so that you’ll be spared the pain of getting plates and dishes thrown at you,” Fred added cheerfully.

“Speaking about dishes, we’ll collect Harry’s dinner and keep it in our room in a stasis mum,” George told his mother.

“Yeah, I have a feeling Harrykins just isn’t in the mood to catch up yet,” Fred said.

Molly sighed but didn’t fight the suggestion.

“Alright. I suppose we all should head down and have dinner then. You two,” she shot the twins stern looks as they tried to inch back into their rooms.

“But Harry might come back –”

“Then you better come down soon and finish your meal quickly so that Harry dear wouldn’t have to come back to an empty room,” Molly interjected. “Come on. Everyone dinner now.”

Fred and George but complied, walking out to join the others as they all headed down for the kitchen.

“Where’s dad gone to by the way?” Fred inquired casually.

“Oh he’s dealing with this boggart that has been rattling near the…”

* * *

Fred and George whistled when they stepped into the transformed attic.

“Wow, you’ve done some major work here, Harry,” Fred told the boy who was slumped against Buckbeak silently, staring hard at the grass before him.

“Yeah,” George added. “This place certainly seems much brighter and more liveable.”

Harry didn’t respond.

The twins exchanged worried glances as they stared at their silent companion.

“Harry?” Fred called out. “It’s time to go back to our room. You need to sleep. It’s rather late.”

The raven-haired boy didn’t respond at all, simply continuing his dedicated staring contest with the grassy floor.

Fred took a step forwards only to pause when Buckbeak, who he had thought was asleep behind Harry, opened its eyes and glared right at him. He paused his advance and dipped forward smoothly in a bow, taking care not to break eye contact with the amber eyes trained on him while doing so.

The hippogriff didn’t – _couldn’t_ – bow back from its position on the floor, lest it risked upsetting its current role as Harry’s personal cushion, but it did give a deep nod with its head. Fred gave a close-lipped grin in relief and waited as the creature repeated the whole process with his twin.

Once George too had gained Buckbeak’s approval to approach, the two of them made their way over to their unresponsive friend.

“Harry?” Fred called out again.

No response.

Fred exchanged one more glance with his twin before shrugging and giving a mischievous smile. George narrowed his eyes but didn’t ask what his twin was getting up to.

With a serene expression, Fred summoned his wand. He gave a quick warning and advanced apologies to Buckbeak and Hedwig who were nearby for what he was about to do and then proceeded to set off a rather loud bang from his wand.

It worked like the charm it was.

Fred grinned as Harry jolted upwards in alarm at the shock of hearing such a loud sound near him. He pouted however, when his plan worked a bit too well and sent Harry scooting away from his direction where the noise had sounded from, resulting in George receiving a handful of a startled Harry who clung to the older teen instinctively.

George, unlike him, evidently liked how things had played out though, if the smug smirk he sent Fred was any indication.

 _“Share at least, moron,”_ Fred told his twin telepathically.

George – the traitor – just stuck out his tongue and gave a cheeky grin.

_“No can do, brother. You should have thought this through better from the start.”_

Fred pouted more.

Harry meanwhile was finally getting his bearings and realised two things at the same time. One: Fred had startled the life out of him with a blasted ‘bang’ charm. Two: The comforting heat source that he had latched on to in his shock was none other than one George Weasley. So that logically meant the lap he had ended up on was George’s. And George being the nice person he was, had circled his arms around Harry’s waist and was holding him close securely instead of shoving him off.

He blushed simultaneously out of embarrassment and mild anger. Given the revelations of his own feelings with Hedwig’s help however, Harry _certainly_ didn’t mind the position he found himself in with George. So, like any infatuated person with common sense would do, he took the opportunity to stay in his crush’s arm while he still could, silently enjoying the heat pooling near his stomach as he became hyper-aware of George’s hands around him. He turned to Fred with fake anger just so he could draw out the moment in George’s lap for a longer time.

“What was that for Fred Weasley?” he snapped.

Harry internally grinned at how Fred froze in fear for a second and mentally applauded his own acting skills. Fred gave him a sheepish grin after a beat.

“You weren’t responding to us, Harry,” Fred said in reply.

Harry gaped.

“So, you thought scaring the living daylights out of me was the logical way to go about things?” he asked.

Fred grinned and nodded unrepentantly. But he soon regretted it as he found himself hoisted upside down by the ankle for the second time in his life by vines.

“Wait, wait, wait! I’m sorry!” Fred apologised hurriedly.

Harry gave the dangling twin an unimpressed look.

“I really am! I won’t do it again, _love_ ,” Fred insisted.

Harry stilled against George in shock, face flaming. The vines let Fred go when Harry no longer directed them in his distracted state.

Fred yelped as he was dropped unceremoniously onto the ground, sending his twin a grateful look for the quick cushioning charm George had sent his way.

“Harry?” he called out to the emerald-eyed teen seated on his twin’s lap as the boy gaped at him in utter puzzlement. “You okay?”

Fred caught George rolling his eyes.

“I think you broke him, idiot.”

Fred pouted.

“I didn’t do anything though!” he cried out as he crawled closer to his twin to reach Harry.

“Well, I wouldn’t agree considering you called him ‘ _love_ ’ without any prior warning, _idiot_ ,” George replied, a slight sulk in his voice that Fred recognised was George being utterly jealous at the fact that Fred had called Harry by that particular term of endearment first.

Fred blinked before the mischievous air returned around him.

“ _Oh_ , is that so?” he asked with a smirk as he brought his face closer to Harry’s.

Fred noted in utter amusement that the younger boy’s eyes were glazed over with absolute disbelief. He snapped his fingers lightly in front of those dazed emerald eyes, smirking more when they zeroed in on him and Harry’s cheeks promptly gained a rosy hue.

“Does it affect you that much?” he asked in a whisper.

“W-what?”

Harry was evidently not in the right mental capability to comprehend anything anymore. Fred supposed he could understand. He was rather mind-blowing.

 _“Modest much?”_ George voice deadpanned across his mindscape.

Fred realised he had unknowingly broadcasted his thoughts to his twin but didn’t mind it. He ignored George to focus on Harry who was still rather out of it.

“Harry,” he said gently, as he reaching out and caressing the younger boy’s cheek and enjoying the way the boy’s breath hitched at his touch. “Does it bother you if I call you _love_?”

The red staining Harry’s cheeks darkened and Fred watched with a grin as emerald eyes darted away from his face in shyness.

“Can you at least not flirt with him while he’s on _my_ lap, Freddie?” George deadpanned as he jerked Harry backwards, ruining the moment like the annoying brother he was. “Let me have my moments with Harry peacefully please?”

Fred gave his twin a mock glare and subtly enjoyed the way Harry’s blush worsened at George’s possessive words.

“Oh, shut up, you had plenty of good moments with Harry as you held him near the stairways, Georgie. Let me have my turn!”

Harry was crumpling further into George’s chest with Fred’s words and George caught the amusement in Fred’s eyes at Harry’s action. Spotting the beautiful hue of crimson decorating Harry’s cheeks, George could fathom why Fred was so delighted. Well, since the sight was bringing him great joy too, George was more than happy to help his twin out in blushing the pretty male who was burrowing his head into George’s chest.

“Please Freddie, you had your moments when you all but _molested_ Harry’s waist while we cornered him the first time at the forest.”

An adorable squeak burst forth from George’s chest.

He and Fred grinned together as they watched Harry cover his face in mortification.

“Oh, like you haven’t groped him before. Weren’t you very much molesting _and_ ogling our lovely Harry’s butt as you manhandled him to our room?”

The twins hadn’t thought Harry could deflate any further in his curled-up position on George’s lap, but he did.

“Last time I checked, you ogled that same butt too, Freddie. And I _know_ you ogled it more when Harry left our room to head for the attic.”

“Well –”

 _“I wished I’d remained ignorant of my crushes on these morons, Hedwig,”_ Harry’s voice came out in a slight muffle from where it was buried in George’s chest.

Silence descended in the attic.

Fred and George watched their younger companion in shock while said companion seemed rather shocked at what he’d revealed.

“I didn’t mean to mutter that out loud,” Harry groaned before burying himself further into George’s chest in defeat.

Fred and George exchanged a glance as twin smirks bloomed on their faces.

“Well, well, well,” George started off in a teasing voice. “This has taken an interesting turn, Freddie.”

“Sure has, Georgie,” Fred added as he settled himself comfortably on the grass. “Say Harrykins –”

“How long have you stopped –”

“Being clueless, hmm?”

Harry turned his head and shot each of them a glare before going back to hide his face in George’s hair.

“Come on,” Fred wheedled. “Tell us, _love_.”

The twins both enjoyed the way Harry shuddered pleasantly at the word.

“I’m stealing that nickname, brother,” George told him.

“As long as you let me be there to watch Harry’s wonderful reactions, I’ll not harp you on it, brother,” Fred replied.

“Deal,” George replied.

“You guys!” Harry whined. “I’m right here!”

“We know,” the twins chorused.

“Now do tell us when you got enlightened about your bisexuality awakening,” Fred pressed.

Harry sighed.

“A while before you guys came to the attic,” Harry mumbled back reluctantly. “Hedwig gave me an intervention.”

The twins blinked.

“Hedwig gave you,” George started with a frown.

“An intervention?” Fred finished, puzzled.

Harry stopped hiding his face and shifted his position so that he was facing Fred while on George’s lap. He leaned back casually and tilted his head a bit so that he could watch George too.

“I can kind of talk to the plants and animals around me now,” he explained with a sigh. “Got the ability the same time around when these guys started to grow and invade my life without warning.”

Harry raised his left hand to display the vines and flowers that were lazily curled around him arm. A few of the waves moved in a motion that looked very much like they were waving at the twins and Harry happily.

Harry rolled his eyes.

“Took me a while, honestly, to learn how to talk back to them in my mind but I got it sometime back,” Harry smirked. “On the same day you two pricks harassed me, to be precise.”

Fred and George rolled their eyes at Harry.

“We weren’t harassing you, love,” George replied.

Harry blushed again at the endearment directed at him.

“Yeah, we were honestly just trying to show you our love, _love_ ,” Fred added, smirking.

Harry swatted a vine at Fred and muttered ‘Overkill’ but his deepening blush betrayed the fact that he was still affected by their attention and words.

“Ok, let’s get back to the point though.”

Harry tensed as he sensed George’s smirk without seeing it. He gulped.

“So you finally realised that your strange feelings from the past few days was you having a crush on us, right before we entered the attic?” George asked.

Harry nodded warily.

“So you mean to say, _love_ ,” George started off in a breathy whisper as he leaned down to rest his chin on Harry’s left shoulder. “That you were well aware you had feelings for me and yet you remained comfortably on my lap all this time?”

Harry stiffened and ducked his head down in embarrassment.

“My, my, Harrykins, you’ve sure become bold,” Fred snickered from before him.

“Shut up,” Harry grumbled as he made to move away from George’s lap. “I had to milk the chance while I had it.”

George tightened his arms around the younger teen.

“Oh no, sweetheart. You’re not leaving now. You can’t just leave me like that after all the grinding you purposefully did to me.”

Harry squeaked in mortification.

“I wasn’t grinding you!” he denied with a flaming face.

“Oh I don’t know Harrykins, I’m certain you were. What do you say Fred?”

Fred gave a thoughtful hum.

“Well, I could make a better verdict if I knew how it felt myself, brother mine.”

“Well then, here you go, brother dearest. Have a feel of Harry’s delightful bottom on you.”

To Harry’s chagrin, he found George casually passing him over to his twin. Fred smoothly took hold of him and settled him on his lap before Harry could even protest.

“You guys –”

“Oh don’t be shy now, love,” George interjected his words with a teasing smirk.

Fred leaned close to Harry ear.

“Yeah, this is just another opportunity for you to milk, sweetheart.”

Harry curled into himself with another squeak.

Fred smirked into Harry’s neck.

Harry stiffened at the sensation but shyly turned to look at Fred with curious eyes.

“What is it, _love_?” Fred prompted.

Harry blushed, hating himself for being so affected but unable to stop enjoying the fond term directed at him.

“You two are truly ok with this?” he gestured between the three of them.

Fred gave Harry a lazy smile.

“Do you think we’ll be sitting here, Harrykins, if we weren’t ok with this?” he teased.

Harry averted his gaze and shrugged.

“I don’t know,” he mumbled softly.

Fred exchanged a look with his twin then watched as George reached out to take bothe of Harry’s hands.

“We’re ok with this, Harry. Don’t worry.”

Harry looked at them both shyly.

“So you don’t, um, find me sort of disgusting for liking you both?” he asked in a small voice.

Fred pulled Harry closer to him and nuzzled his face against the boy’s neck fondly.

“No, Harrykins. We don’t. In fact, we are thrilled that you could like the both of us, especially while knowing that we are different despite being twins.”

“Yes, _little_ _one_ ,” George affirmed.

He chuckled as Harry blushed at the new term of endearment.

“You’ve found a good one, Georgie,” Fred told his brother as he watched Harry turn his head away from embarrassment.

“Indeed I have.”

“Now come one, little one,” Fred teased. “We still have an experiment to complete. You still have a long while on my lap to disprove that you weren’t purposefully grinding on poor George just now.”

Harry let his head fall onto his hands in defeat and groaned.

Fred chuckled along with his twin as they watched Harry in amusement.

* * *

 _“I’m taking it, brother dearest that we are sharing our lover in the end, after all?”_ Fred probed mentally as he ran soothing circles down Harry’s waist as the younger boy remained curled into himself in embarrassment.

George shot him a small smile.

 _“It seems we are, brother mine. It seems we are,”_ George replied back.

Fred returned a smile to his twin.

_“Will you be happy with this, Georgie? We’re completely breaking our pact.”_

George gave a shrug, staring down fondly at the raven-haired teen that had yet to meet his or Fred’s eye since having been plopped onto Fred’s lap.

 _“I don’t feel like I’ve lost my identity as George while we both pursue him,”_ he told his twin honestly. _“And yet I don’t find our twin bond and identity compromised while loving him together. I don’t think we’ve ever achieved our goal of having complete twin unity along with individual identities this well with each of our past lovers. We were honestly aiming for something that was quite impossible back then.”_

 _“Yet, we’ve somehow struck the jackpot with Harry, haven’t we?”_ Fred asked as he cuddled the boy in his arm tighter.

 _“That, we did indeed, Freddie.”_ George paused for a while. _“You will be happy too, right?”_ he clarified just in case.

Fred smiled.

_“I already am, brother mine.”_

George smiled back.

_“Good to know, brother dearest.”_

The twins turned to back to stare fondly at the boy in their company.

 _“George,”_ Fred called out, a serious tone in his mind voice.

_“Yes?”_

_“You do realise, Harry probably still has doubts and confusion, right?”_

George sighed mentally.

 _“It’s crossed my mind before. I mean he just got to know about his own family history over the past few days. And that too only partly since we had to get back to Grimmauld as soon as possible,”_ George pointed out. _“Plus, the fact that he’s only now figured out he likes guys, along with the fact that he likes us both and is getting both our attention, probably confuses and frightens him.”_

 _“Frightens?”_ Fred looked down at the boy who was now burying his face in his chest, much like how he had done with George, in concern.

_“Come one Freddie, Harry’s a great actor. You remember us discovering his cupboard way back, don’t you? Yet, he always seemed so happy and bright while he was amongst people in the wizarding world, not giving away how bad his home life was one bit. He’s current emotions and feelings probably terrify him even if doesn’t admit it. I think we’re going to have many more times where we will need to reassure him of our relationship down the road.”_

Fred hugged the boy in his lap more after hearing that.

 _“Well then, I suppose we’ll just have to prepare ourselves for the long, crazy and likely uphill ride ahead as we figure out this three-way relationship,”_ Fred commented after a while, a determined gleam entering his eyes.

George gave him a proud smile.

_“Glad to hear that. Because if you had been getting cold feet instead, I will probably punch you, Freddie.”_

Fred rolled his eyes.

_“Have more faith in me, will ya? I’m your twin. Besides, I wouldn’t hurt Harry like that.”_

George gave him a sheepish grin.

_“Sorry Freddie, I’m just feeling rather protective.”_

_“Possessive would be a better description when it comes to you, Georgie,”_ Fred replied with a smirk.

George rolled his eyes.

 _“Oh lookie here,"_ George called out mockingly. _"_ _The pot is calling the kettle black. You’re as bad as me when it comes to being possessive.”_

Fred smirked into Harry’s hair as he lowered his face into his lover’s – and wasn’t that just _wonderful_? he thought to himself. To be able to claim Harry as his _lover_ – head.

_“Well then, this love journey is going to be quite interesting, isn’t it? We may be sharing, Georgie but I’m not going to give up Harry’s attention easily.”_

George met his twin’s challenging gaze head on.

_“Well then don’t expect a fair fight from me either brother dearest.”_

Fred smirked.

_“Duly noted, brother mine, duly noted.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment and kudos if possible please?? :) I'd like to hear your thoughts.  
> It's my first time writing a three-way paring so I'll appreciate it if you can tell me if I did ok or not ahahaha...please be nice if you got criticism tho hehe, thanks
> 
> Happy holidays meanwhile! And Merry Christmas to those celebrating!!  
> Take care and stay safe everyone!!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry. REALLY. I wish I could update more frequently but my school work is like "NO"...  
> Haiz...I haven't even updated my other fics yet...yikes...(is there any possibility for me to just yeet out a window?)  
> Anyways, I wrote this chapter during the small pockets of time I found between school and homework you guys...if it isn't great...um...well then...be kind while you critique me pls?
> 
> On a bright side tho, it's more of Harry and the twins (and of course Sirius in all his godfather glory)...
> 
> Also, I haven't managed to reply back to some of you guys' comments! Again, I just haven't found the time to do it! But I've read them all and I'm just going to shout out a big thank you here for it! Seriosuly, your comments always brigthen up my day, especially when you guys seem to genuinely enjoy reading the story and when you guys are jumping for the next update to come. TYSM for all that and the support! It's the best motivation to keep finding time to write and update, no matter how slowly the whole process goes.
> 
> So from the bottom of my heart. Thank you guys!!!
> 
> Enjoy the chapter!

Harry sat up with a jolt, mind doused in panic.

Green enveloped his sight.

His breath hitched.

"No," he shook his head. "No, no, no, no, _no!_ "

He struggled to sit up straight and felt his arms and legs entangle in ropes that restricted his movement. The memory of being tied to a tombstone resurfaced in his mind.

_Pettigrew was coming at him with a knife._

"No, stop!"

Harry was too wrapped in his struggle to notice the twin pops signalling people apparating beside him.

"Merlin! I think we've done the right thing by removing that silencing charm Harrikins placed around himself, Georgie."

Harry's head shot up in surprise at the familiar voice and a part of him calmed down, recognising the two redheads before him. He blinked and felt the nightmare still haunting him clear slowly from his mind, albeit slowly.

"Sure was, Freddie. Harrikins seems to be in a right state."

Harry blinked some more. He suddenly found the Weasley twins kneeling on either side of him, their faces adorning identical expressions of concerns despite their previous joking.

"What's the matter, Harry?" the twin on his right asked gently. Harry absently recognised him as George.

"Too much green light," he whispered back softly, mind going back to the killing curse that had plagued him in his nightmares. He gave a half-hearted tug at the green things still twined around him and completely missed the comprehension that dawned on the twins' faces.

Somewhere at the back of his mind, Harry could recognise that the green things were not a threat. But at his current state of mind, where all he could feel was his erratic heartbeat and sweat soaked skin, Harry could not care to accept that realisation.

He did not want any more of the green light. No more at all. He would be happier not even knowing it existed honestly.

"Tell him to stop dying," Harry whispered tiredly as the memory of Cedric falling dead washed over him again.

Fred and George gave him sad looks that he didn't see.

"Too much green," Harry whispered brokenly again as he tugged on the green stuff surrounding him.

"Well, that can be easily fixed Harry," Fred whispered from his left.

Harry turned to look at teen, as though just remembering Fred was there.

"W- what?"

Fred gave him a soft smile before raising his wand. Harry flinched slightly. He remembered wands in his nightmares. Wands that gave off green light.

Fred's smile dropped from his face at his reaction, sadness seeping into his feature. But the redhead didn't move his wand from where he held it upright between Harry and himself.

Suddenly, a brilliant white light bloomed from the wand tip.

Harry blinked rapidly, stunned by the sudden brightness. But his mind effectively jolted from its half-asleep state, clearing away the last of the nightmares clinging to the forefront of his mind in a few heartbeats.

The light changed to a golden hue.

Memories of a bell-shaped flower that was a beautiful shade of gold flooded Harry's mind. He remembered how beautiful those flowers were. How they had filled his sanctuary with warm, comforting light as the other flowers and plants kept him company.

Harry blinked.

 _Right. I have plants for company,_ he thought as his brain awoke fully.

Harry relaxed as his mind caught up to his reality. He leaned absently into George who caught him without complain, exhaling as the older boy looped his arms around Harry's waist in a manner that brought him comfort.

 _Did I hurt you guys?_ He asked silently to Pale Pink and his other companions. _I'm really sorry. I keep forgetting myself when I'm stuck in my nightmares._

A wave of concern and affection washed over him from his link to the plants.

 _We are fine, youngling_ , whimsical voices breezed across his mind. _We'll go through this again and again if it means you feel safer every day._

Harry stilled at that response, breath caught in his throat that was suddenly dry.

This was not certainly the first time the plants had said something so caring to him. But despite that, he kept getting caught off guard when the beings showered him with such unconditional love.

It was a rather novel experience to him. To feel so loved and cared for.

Harry blinked. A small sense of guilt creeped up his heart.

His last thought wasn't exactly true. He knew he had people who cared about him. Ron, Hermione, Sirius, the twins and a handful more. They all loved him for who he was, he was certain. He shouldn't have undermined the care that they held for him so carelessly.

But he would be lying if he said he saw them all equal to the plants surrounding him.

The plants were just different to him. Somehow, the green beings were just a tad bit more important. More close to Harry.

They were like _actual_ family, he realised with a start, surprised by his own internal view of his newest companions in his life. The kind of family he had dreamed of having as a child. The kind that was constantly supporting him, constantly being with him, unconditionally caring for him. Granted they weren't human. But they were family.

Harry felt his heart warm and a quiet, deep contentment coursed through his veins.

Family. Huh. Who would have thought…

 _Would you promise to never leave me if I asked?_ He asked the plants in his mind, words coated with a raw vulnerability he had not shown in a long time to anyone.

 _We would not leave you, youngling, even if you_ _told us to leave you for good,_ the plants replied firmly, sending feelings of stubbornness over to him.

Harry smiled slightly, ignoring the way his eyes seemed suspiciously moist. He was not going to cry. No, not at all. Not trusting himself to speak, he hugged his left arm to his chest, encompassing his leafy companions in a gentle hug in gratitude.

 _Thank you_ , he whispered in his mind. _You have no idea how much that means to me._

The vines grew around him, twining away from his arm to circle his whole body. Flowers and leaves sprouted in abundance around him, the former appearing in every and all colours. Harry giggled under his breath. He could only imagine what kind of image he was giving the twins. He probably looked like an overgrown bush that happened to have limbs and a face.

Chuckling mentally at the thought, Harry turned his attention to finally focus on his red-haired companions. Mild embarrassment coloured his cheeks at the fondly amused looks they were shooting at his predicament but he chucked it aside. He rather liked the plants affections. It wasn't going to do him any good trying to deny it. Besides, this wasn't exactly the first time the twins were witnessing this particular scene, if he were to be honest.

"Sorry for waking you up," he told them apologetically.

George, who Harry was still leaning on, rolled his eyes.

"We don't mind, Harry," the boy told him gently. "We'd do this again and again if you need us to."

Fred nodded seriously.

"A thousand times. A million. However long it will take, Harry. We'll be here."

"Promise," the twins chorused.

Harry stared at the two in silent shock. If he had not known the twins couldn't speak to the plants, he would have wondered if they had somehow eavesdropped in his conversation with the green beings.

With a small smile, he averted his eyes from the twins' serious gazes.

"Thanks," he mumbled quietly, touched.

Silence stretched between the trio after that. Harry fumbled with a pair of vines near his arms, unsure what to say to break the silence with his boyfriends.

 _"The twins are my boyfriends,"_ he thought with a start. _"Boyfriends."_

Harry licked his lips, nervous.

_"Merlin, what does a guy do when his lovers wake him up from a nightmare?"_

Harry cursed himself for being in such a situation. It was both awkward and embarrassing.

He looked up to steal a glance at the twins to see them watching him quietly with amused glances and immediately averted his eyes again. George shook beside him at that, in what was obviously restrained laughter. Harry gave the redhead a half-hearted swat.

"Stop laughing at me," he grumbled at the teen.

He sighed when George ignored his order.

"Don't you two want to go back to sleep?" he asked them finally, looking up to shoot them a disgruntled look each.

Fred leaned into him with a pleasant smile. Harry eyed the teen warily.

"Why yes we do want to sleep, _love_."

Harry scowled as the endearment brought a red hue to his cheeks again.

"Well then go back to your beds, morons," he mumbled.

"Oh, you wound us, darling," George cried in mock hurt, laying his head onto Harry's shoulder with an exaggerated sigh, not batting an eye that said shoulder was covered in vines and flowers. "How could you call us morons?"

"Yeah Harrykins, we thought we were your knights in shining armour," Fred sniffed, wiping an imaginary tear from his eye.

Harry rolled his eyes.

"Go back to sleep you two," he muttered tiredly. "This is not the time for dramatics."

Fred and George pouted at his refusal to play along with them but complied.

"Fine, fine little one," George mumbled.

The twins moved away from him and stood up. Harry gave them a small smile as they stretched their legs to get out the kinks of kneeling for so long.

"Right, come on Harry. Get up," Fred told him once he had stopped stretching.

Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

Fred raised an eyebrow in return.

"Time to sleep, Harry. Like you said."

"But I'm already in my bed – Fredrick Weasley!"

Harry scowled as the older boy pulled him up smoothly in one swift motion. Since he had been seated so long, Harry felt his legs – still rather dead – almost give way as they weren't prepared to hold his weight. He wobbled on his feet only to find Fred steadying him with a hand around his waist, pressing Harry close to the redhead. Said hand also lowered dangerously close to his butt.

"Watch the plants!" Harry hissed in warning as Fred's actions almost crushed the leaves and flowers still surrounding his body. "And don't even think of groping me, Fred!"

Fred gave an easy grin but shifted his arm up to his back nonetheless, while loosening his grip on Harry to ensure the plants would not get squashed.

"Ah, sorry little green ones!"

The redhead caressed the vines on Harry's chest lightly.

"But I'm just trying to get Harry to bed, you see? He needs proper sleep and that obviously isn't going to happen on the floor, no matter how comfortable you guys make it for him."

Harry rolled his eyes.

"I'm fine where I am – eek!"

Harry yelped as the plants surrounding him suddenly grew in volume. He blinked as he found himself seated upon a mess of vines and branches. Then blinked some more as said vines and branches carried him across the room and deposited him right in the middle of the twins' joined beds before they untangled from his person and spread themselves around the bed's edges. Even Pale Pink had chosen to twine away from him and dangle down near his head from the ceiling.

Harry blinked again.

Twin cracks of apparition on either side of him jolted Harry out of his shock. Fred and George smiled at him before taking in the way the plants left the bed untouched for the three of them in gratitude. Harry watched in confusion as he saw Fred even give Pale Pink a high five that the flower returned by smacking its petals gently against the centre of the redhead's palm.

"What the heck just happened?" he muttered to himself aloud.

"I believe your plants have sensibly transported you to your proper sleeping location, love," George replied casually as he pushed Harry down onto the mattress and pulled up the sheets till it reached his shoulders.

"But –"

"Shh little one," George interrupted. "It's time to sleep. We can talk later."

Fred nodded in agreement and settled himself under the covers next to Harry. George mimicked his twin from Harry's right.

"The plants listened to you?!" Harry spluttered, ignoring their words.

He was still somewhat in shock. Not to mention there was also that slight sting of betrayal in his heart. The plants had listened to Fred's words!

Merlin, he didn't want the twins teaming up with the plants anytime soon. The chaos in his life would double and his life was already chaotic enough to turn him insane.

"Like Georgie said. They're sensible, love," Fred replied with a smirk. "Of course, they would listen to us when necessary."

Harry blinked.

"But –"

A kiss on each side of his cheeks cut him off. Harry's face flamed. He knew without seeing that both the twins were very much smirking.

"Sleep well _little_ _one_ ," Fred purred into ear.

Harry forgot to breathe.

"Yeah, and have nice dreams of us, _love_ ," George teased.

Harry rolled his eyes, ignoring the way he felt his heart jumping out of his chest.

"Dreaming of you two will be counted more as a nightmare," he told George, though the red dusting his cheeks gave his true feelings away. "And I'd really do not want to see your annoying faces more than necessary, thank you very much."

Fred and George smirked.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night Harry," the twins chorused.

Harry huffed and closed his eyes. He felt the twins shift and adjust beside him to lay on their sides, bodies facing his in the centre. Two sets of arms embraced him under the sheets. Harry tensed slightly before relaxing.

"Do you two got to keep touching me all the time?" he asked the twins without opening his eyes, voice tinged with mild annoyance.

He felt the twins still beside him.

"Well little one –" George's voice came from his right.

"Do you not –" Fred cut in from his left.

"Like it at all?" the twins asked in a chorus.

Harry didn't reply immediately.

"Harry?" Fred called out softly, jest gone from his voice.

George shuffled closer from his right and Harry knew without seeing that both the redheads were wearing worried faces.

He sighed.

"It's a bit uncomfortable," he confessed softly to the twins. "I've not had people hold me like this before."

The twins didn't speak for a few beats. Then he felt them start to move away.

Harry shot out his arms to hold the two in place. He then opened his eyes to shoot both the twins a glare each before closing them again with an exasperated sigh.

"I never did say I didn't like it though, you idiots," he grumbled to the two, tightening his hold on their arms slightly, refusing to let them rescind their cuddling.

He fought off the smile that was threatening to bloom on his lips when the twins quietly shifted closer to him after that. Their combined warmth encompassed him in a comforting heat. Fred curled in to rest his head on Harry's left shoulder while George tucked his chin on Harry's right shoulder instead. And Harry knew without seeing again that both of the redheads were wearing a grin on their faces.

He sighed, truly loving the position they were despite all his snarky replies to the twins.

They laid in that position for a few beats. Harry felt his mind relax slightly.

"Good night Harry," the twins chorused softly after a while.

Their voices sounded sleepy and Harry knew the two were already on the brink of sleep. He remembered with a pang that the twins had just woken up in the middle of the night to comfort him from his nightmares. Remembered that they were likely going to not get proper sleep with him in the room, since he often woke up several times in the night. Remembered that the two idiots _knew_ this fact and yet chose to sleep with him beside them on their bed, rather than kick him out like any sensible person would do.

Harry tightened his own arms around theirs, sighing as the warmth of the two teens comforted him better than any blanket could on a cold night. His heart swelled a little at how nice the twins were to him.

"Good night Fred and George," he whispered back, squeezing their arms slightly. "And thank you. Both of you."

The twins didn't ask him what they were thanking him for. They didn't need to. Instead, they snuggled in closer to Harry in reply.

Harry willed himself to relax again and drifted back slowly into the land of dreams, mind praying fervently that at least for the rest of the night, he would not be subjected to nightmares. He didn't want to trouble the twins anymore. Plus, they deserved to sleep well.

* * *

Sirius blinked, rubbing wearily at his eyes to clear away the sleep in them.

"Um, pup? Are you ok?"

He took in the way his godson averted his eyes from, blushing red from head to toe. The boy's hair was even more of a mess than usual and his lips were looking rather bruised – likely due to how hard Harry was biting them in nervousness. The plants and vines draped around his shoulders and neck reached out to brush and caress the boy's face in an almost teasing manner. The teen's blush worsened for some reason.

Sirius raised an eyebrow, confused and yet amused.

Whatever brought Harry knocking on his door so early in the morning had to be serious. But it was rather difficult to stay solemn when met with the sight of his godson covered in leaves and vines like he was some form of mythical swamp monster. The plants were covering so much of Harry that if Sirius didn't know better, he would have thought the boy was naked underneath that green mess.

"Pup?" he repeated again while stifling a yawn. In his defence, it was rather early to be up and he had just awakened moments ago to the pounding at his door thanks to Harry. "Was there something you wanted to ask me?"

Harry, to his surprise just groaned and dropped his head into his hands.

"Yes," came the muffled response from the mop of hair that reminded Sirius so much of his brother-in-heart, one James Potter.

"What is it pup?" Sirius asked gently.

This time, Sirius had trouble understanding the reply that Harry gave from behind his hands.

"Come again Harry?"

Harry sighed and reluctantly lifted his head from his hands.

"I said I'd like to talk to you, _godfather_ ," the teen replied.

Sirius raised an eyebrow at the formal term. He was not going to lie. He was very lost on what Harry wanted from him. Judging from his calling Sirius' role out, it was likely adult advice.

 _"I can do that,"_ Sirius thought nervously. _"Sure, I'm not the best adult but I'm his godfather."_

Sirius tried not to show his sudden nervousness on his face.

"Sure, pup. Want to come inside first?"

Harry turned bright red again but stepped into his room without protest, heading to the centre.

Sirius frowned.

He was starting to get very concerned with all this red rushing up his godson's cheeks for the _fifth_ time despite how adorable Harry looked. What had happened to cause Harry to be this flustered?

He turned to close his room's door while Harry seated himself on the chair nearby his bed. He paused briefly however, when he felt two set of footsteps hurrying over from a few doors away. Years of living as Padfoot had heightened his senses and he knew from the weeks he had spent around the Weasleys that said set of footsteps, light and nimble as they were, belonged to a pair of mischievous twins.

Sirius spared a glance behind at his godson, who was fidgeting on his seat, unaware of the twins likely rushing over to find him. With a sigh, he closed the door and locked it with a privacy charm. He hoped for the twins' sake they didn't do anything to make Harry uncomfortable. He would have their hides if they did.

His godson had been through enough bullshit already for Circe's sake.

"So, what did you want to talk about, pup?"

"Yeah, before that, um –" Harry coughed. "Would you mind if I used your bathroom please? I desperately need a shower."

Harry's blush worsened.

"A cold, _cold_ shower," he mumbled under his breath.

Harry averted his eyes while Sirius narrowed his, having heard that last statement clearly.

 _"Cold shower?"_ Sirius thought aghast.

His eyes travelled over his godson's frame again, seeing the boy's ruffled appearance in a new light. Messy hair, bruised lips, excessive blushing. It wasn't hard for things to click in Sirius' head.

He scowled internally.

 _"I'm killing those redhead twins after this,"_ Sirius thought vehemently. _"Nobody touches my pup. Not even his mutual crushes."_

Sirius's internal scowl deepened. The Grim Animagus was seriously starting to regret his decision of letting his little Prongslet bunk in the twins' room.

Padfoot in particular growled at him from within his mind, reprimanding him for his blunder.

Letting Harry be alone with the twins was obviously bound to _not_ go well. For Merlin's sake he knew all three had affections for each other. What had he been thinking, allowing them to room together? Share a bed together?

Padfoot growled more at that last thought.

He obviously had not been thinking at all.

 _"Wait, if they kissed, does that make them official?"_ Sirius frowned. _"But Harry is not the age to have boyfriends. Or girlfriends. Or romantic partners."_

Padfoot snarled in agreement.

 _"Pup needs to reach a minimum age of hundred,"_ Sirius thought desperately. _"Ah shit, what have I done? Lily would kill me if she were alive. James would murder me in my sleep and –"_

"Sirius?"

Sirius snapped his attention back to reality. Harry was watching him with worried eyes.

"Did they touch you, pup?" he asked, keeping his voice neutral.

But something in his face must have tipped off the teen about his true emotions.

"Oh no – I mean, yes," Harry amended at Sirius' deadpan look. "But it wasn't like I didn't consent it."

Sirius frowned, not believing it.

"Pup, you are hardly at the age to realise if you are being emotionally manipulated!" Sirius cried, waving his hands around frantically. "I'm going to castrate those two, I swear. Who do they think they are? Touching my godson –"

Sirius cut off as he was suddenly dangling upside down in his room. Blinking away the sudden disorientation, he realised a vine was casually holding him up by the ankle. He looked away from his foot to lock gazes with emerald orbs. Even upside down, he could tell they were glaring at him, unimpressed.

"There will be no castrating my _boyfriends_ , Siri. Absolutely not. I will not allow it."

Sirius' heart almost stopped at the word 'boyfriends'.

" _But_ pup –"

"Don't whine at me," Harry cut in.

Sirius pouted. He was not whining.

"Look Sirius, I'm fifteen years old already. I hardly think getting into a relationship now is something you should stop me from doing. I mean, I'm pretty decent compared to what you obviously were up to at my age," Harry told him with a deadpan stare, gesturing silently around at the walls of Sirius' room.

The various posters of the human female species stared back silently at them in their ascending levels of nudity.

Sirius blushed.

"I wasn't doing that at your age," he grumbled back.

"So even younger then?" Harry scrunched his nose. "Ew Siri."

"Hey! I could have done that when I was seventeen," Sirius defended himself. "Don't make assumptions."

"No need to lie Sirius, Remus has already told me enough about your rendezvous and rebellions."

Sirius scowled.

"But back to the topic at hand. I need advice. Are you going to give it to me?"

Sirius sighed.

"Of course, I will pup. But do you have to have boyfriends now –"

"Would you prefer I took a leaf out of your book instead?" Harry asked with a straight face. "Go around on one night stands every night of the week?"

Sirius paled despite being upside down. He could already imagine the hell Lily would have prepared for him in the afterlife if he let Harry be like that.

" _No_! Relationships are good!" he shrieked. "You can date pup. Just don't cheat."

Harry rolled his eyes.

"I know that Siri."

Sirius yelped as he was dropped onto the ground a beat later.

"I had hoped to never experience that after the forest," he groaned as he stood up gingerly from where he had been gracelessly deposited.

Harry smirked.

"Keep hoping."

Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Alright pup. Advice. What do you need?"

Harry looked away.

"Shower first please."

Sirius tried not let his eyes wander past the embarrassed teen's stomach. Suddenly, he knew why the plants were draping around his godson for, hiding his body under their leaves and vines.

An amused smile blossomed on his lips.

"You don't need to feel so embarrassed about morning wood, pup."

Harry blinked before he registered what Sirius said. He blushed from head to toe.

"Oh, shut it," Harry grumbled.

Sirius chuckled.

"I'm serious, pup. It's common amongst boys your age. Even grown men actually."

Harry looked up at him shyly.

"I've never really um – woken up like this," he confessed softly.

Harry let his head fall into hands again with a sigh and fell back onto the chair he was sitting on more, as though he were wishing it would somehow swallow him up.

"I woke up like _this_ Sirius," came the horrified whisper as emerald eyes peeked at him from behind slender fingers that hid the boy's face. _"Woke up_ like this! In front of the twins. It was so bloody humiliating!"

Sirius gave a small chuckle and met Harry's gaze calmly, expertly ignoring the hysteria in the teen's voice. And the nervousness within him at this whole unexpected situation.

He had hoped he would get a warning before he had to delve into such matters with his godson.

"That's nothing to be so terrified about, pup," he told Harry in a soothing voice. "Like I said, it's normal. It's only terrifying because it's a new experience. You'll learn to get used to it sooner than you think."

Harry turned crimson for some reason at his words.

"Oh, you'd be surprised at how quick I got used to it, Siri," Harry replied with a red face.

Sirius stilled.

"What now?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

Emerald eyes stared despondently at him.

"I um – got a bit too excited I think, after I sort of got used to my unusual way of waking up," he told Sirius quietly, face still covered behind his hands in embarrassment. "For a lack of better words, let's just say I started to act under my horny instincts rather than my rational brain."

Harry cringed.

"And then I may also have gotten a bit too scared when I actually realised what I was doing," Harry ended with a squeak.

Sirius bit back that urge to go find a pair of twins and turn them into hippogriff food. He did not like what he was hearing one bit. He supposed he had to give Harry some leeway considering his age and innocence likely made him vulnerable to a lack of impulse control in such situations. But what the hell were those Weasley twins thinking, taking advantage of him like that?

Oh when he got his hands on those two –

"Well these things do happen to the best of us pup, especially when you are new to these kinds of things," he told Harry instead, reigning in his protective instincts and trying to comfort the boy before instead.

But from the way Harry crumpled further in misery, Sirius had the feeling he had not helped manage to reassure his godson any bit.

Sirius' eyes softened, pity rearing up at his godson's demeanour despite the implications of the boy's words still leaving his heart to beat frantically in panic at what must have gone down before Harry came to him for advice. He decided however, that neither he nor Harry were prepared at all to talk about the matter at the current moment.

"Tell you what, let's get you over with your shower first."

Sirius waved his wand at the door located to the left of his room. It creaked opened under his silent spell.

"The bathroom's there. You take your time to shower and I'll have fresh clothes spelled over once you're done. Then we'll talk as you wanted while we have breakfast together. How does that sound?"

Harry gave a small smile, finally dropping his hands away from his face.

"Sounds like a plan, Siri."

Sirius smiled.

"Go on then. Go take that cold shower you wanted."

Harry did as he was told but hesitated at the threshold of the bathroom. Sirius tilted his head when the teen gave him a frown over his shoulder.

"No harassing my boyfriends while I shower, ok?"

Sirius pouted. Harry's glare intensified.

"Sirius," he warned.

"Ok, ok. I won't do anything till we finish our heart-to-heart," he grumbled miserably.

Harry rolled his eyes and closed the bathroom door behind him.

Sirius sighed once he heard the shower running. Mentally, he was freaking out over the conversation he was to have with his godson. A conversation about the birds and the bees – the gay version.

Sirius face palmed.

 _"Right. This comes with being the godfather job,"_ he thought silently to himself, smacking himself over for never realising the matter sooner.

He kept forgetting Harry was already a teenager. (Did Sirius mention how much he loathed Azkaban and the way it screwed his mind over?) Harry needed to have these talks for his own good. Especially now that he was in a relationship.

Padfoot growled unhappily at that last bit.

A relationship with magical twins no less.

Padfoot was snarling now. Sirius ignored his internal Grim, not having the time to entertain an internal conflict. He had less than say ten minutes before Harry would reappear, freshened and expectant for "advice".

Sirius grimaced.

Goodness, he couldn't believe he hadn't thought of having The Talk with Harry yet. If Lily had been alive, she would have hexed him into the next century and back for his lapse.

"Where the bloody hell is Moony when you need him?" he thought desperately.

Merlin, he was not the best man for this job at all.

 _"No. You have to be good. You are Harry's godfather. Get a grip on yourself for Merlin's sake, Black," _he thought desperately.

He cleared his throat.

"Right. I am Harry's godfather. Lily and James chose me. I can do this," he muttered to himself absently.

Taking a deep breath, Sirius called out for his house elf, squashing away his hatred for it. He really did not have the time to make breakfast with Harry coming out of the bathroom in a few minutes. Otherwise, he would have happily ignored Kreacher's existence like he had been doing all this time.

Kreacher, meanwhile, appeared with the usual crack at his call, shooting him a vile look and muttering vulgarities under his breath silently, unable to curse after Sirius having explicitly told him not to.

He glared at the elf in disgust.

"Kreacher, I want you to prepare breakfast for two in ten minutes. Properly. No slacking or trying to sabotage the food in any way," he ordered to the creature sternly.

Kreacher scowled.

"As Master wishes. Kreacher will have it laid out at the dining table –"

"No Kreacher," Sirius interrupted. "I'm having breakfast with Harry in my room. Serve it over to the room when you're done preparing it."

Kreacher's face went blank.

"Master is having breakfast with _the_ _Heir_?"

Sirius blinked, surprised. Harry was his heir in all rights, yes. Sirius had already left a will leaving everything to the child since escaping Azkaban.

But he hadn't realised that Kreacher had caught on to that fact.

"Yes Kreacher. Harry is indeed the heir for the Black line," he told the elf warily.

Kreacher blinked in surprise.

"The Heir is the Black heir too?" the elf asked shocked.

Sirius was now totally confused. Had Kreacher not meant that the first time round? What –

"Kreacher will have breakfast served in ten minutes," Kreacher spoke out suddenly and firmly to him, face clear of any antagonism for the first time in years since Sirius had run away from Grimmauld at sixteen.

The elf then vanished away with a loud pop, leaving Sirius blinking at thin air.

The Grim Animagus sighed.

"This is going to be a long day," he mumbled under his breath. "I can just feel it."

* * *

**What happened a rough 30 minutes back:**

Harry wasn't sure exactly of what to do when he woke up – for the first time in his life honestly – aroused. It was a pleasant yet confusing situation to him. It wasn't that he hadn't been aroused before in his life.

He wasn't _that_ clueless. Not at all.

Masturbation was something that all the boys in his dorm were familiar with. Fantasising over girls was something he was guilty of along with his dormmates. It was where he got most of his (little) knowledge about relationships from, unfortunately. (He shuddered to even think about how the conversations in the dorm were going to evolve with the coming years as the other boys grew bolder in their relationships.) And Harry did have the occasional crush that stirred something within him strongly enough to – well wank to put it crudely.

But he hadn't really experienced the feeling when it came to appreciating the males of the human species. It was honestly exactly the same as when he crushed on a female.

Yet somehow _so_ different.

Harry licked his lips nervously as he stared up at George's face from where he was pressed up against the older teen's chest. Up so close, he could distinguish each freckle on the redhead's face better. They dotted across his cheeks and nose almost like stars across the midnight sky, standing out boldly on George's otherwise clear skin.

It was a pretty sight, Harry personally thought.

The heat between his legs intensified. Harry resisted the urge to groan.

Merlin, this was not how he wanted to wake up. Not at all. Especially not while sandwiched between the Weasley twins.

Taking in a deep breath, Harry leant tried to lean backwards discreetly, knowing George, unlike Fred, was a light sleeper who would easily wake up at the slightest disturbance. If he got anymore aroused, he was certain George would wake up due to the feeling of something constantly _poking_ at his stomach.

Harry blushed.

 _"God damn it, I'm acting like one of those female protagonists from the trashy romance novels Aunt Petunia reads,"_ he thought silently, swallowing down another groan – this time caused by sheer embarrassment.

Desperate now to avoid any possibility of George waking up to see him all hot and bothered, Harry shifted backwards more. A bad move he found out a moment later. Because he didn't account for one Fred Weasley, who was laying behind him, to grunt in his sleep when Harry's head pressed against his chest. And promptly throw arm around Harry.

That wasn't the worst of it at all however.

Fred Weasley, even when sleeping, had to obviously make life more difficult for poor Harry since the boy didn't simply stop at spooning him. No. Fred's arm, when thrown over Harry's hips, fell onto none other than Harry's arousal and the redhead, being the devil he was, went ahead and caressed it.

Harry let out the breath he had been holding, startled. His breath fanned across George's face as blood rushed up to his cheeks and he watched in rising horror as the redhead before him started to stir.

 _"Uh–oh,"_ he thought, torn between the pleasure Fred was trailing below his hips and the humiliation he knew was incoming with George's return to reality from dreamland.

_"I am screwed. Absolutely screwed."_

George's eyes fluttered open slowly. Brown orbs flecked with green took his face in blearily.

"Morning, Harry," George mumbled as he yawned.

Harry gave a weak smile.

"Morning George," he breathed back, praying George would not look down.

And that Fred would just move his bloody, evil, heavenly hand away soon. He never had anyone else touch him _there_ and he was terrified.

Very aroused and excited yes, but also bloody terrified.

George, oblivious to Harry's dilemma threw a hand over his waist and pulled him towards his chest possessively.

"Cuddle me too, love," George muttered, hugging him close.

If Harry was red before, he was crimson now. Bright red, burning crimson.

Back in the position he had started off since waking up, he felt the heat within him intensify _again_ , worsened by Fred's sinful touches. It was a miracle that George had yet to realise his situation. But Harry knew the redhead wasn't going to remain oblivious for long. A quiet, intense desire was building ever so slowly under his skin and Harry was finding it hard to repress all the emotions overcoming him.

For Merlin's sake he was new to this stuff. Couldn't the twins let him be? The stupid, handsome, devil incarnates. Ugh. The fact that they were doing this to him without even realising only made it more unfair in his opinion.

Harry bit his lip.

It wasn't that he disliked whatever it was that he was feeling. But he was afraid. For Harry, contact had mostly meant _bad_ for most of his life. In Hogwarts, no one had raised his hand to beat him sure but no one had given him hugs or cuddled him or kissed him or _anything_ either. Save for that few hugs he shared with Hermione and Mrs Weasley when either of those two women became overcome with emotions. Even during group huddles after a Quidditch win, Harry had always made sure to weasel out of staying in someone else's grasp for too long.

Some things just took time to overcome.

The past few days with the twins however, certainly had changed things a bit.

Perhaps it was because their constant teasing from back at the forest had made him sort of expect their advances. Or maybe it was because he did trust the twins a lot, right after Ron and Hermione. But he had gotten used to Fred and George's casual touches. He looked forward to them, he would even admit. Yes, he was still terrified when they came near him (though he hid it well) and often times he got confused if the thundering in his heart was due to his aversion to touch or simply the fact that the twins were gorgeous examples of the human male species. But Harry couldn't deny that he _liked_ it. Liked that he could for once be on the receiving end of such positive touch without needing to fear that it would leave him in pain or broken bones. And the twins weren't like Hermione or Mrs Weasley who only hugged him when meeting him after a long time or when they were worried about him. No, the twins kept touching him. One-sided hug, light caresses, tousling his hair and many other subtle things. It was – It was _nice_.

But was he ready to take it even farther in such a short time?

Harry licked his lips nervously.

He was curious honestly. He wanted to know where this would lead – if the twins were willing of course. And he had never felt pleasure like this before. It was very different from when he was touching himself down there.

There was something more, something _electrifying_ when it was the twins who were doing the touching.

Fred's hand gave another stroke and George's breath fanned across his neck lightly.

Harry lost it.

He moaned. The sound left his lips in a raspy manner, raw and unrestrained.

Harry flushed. Never did he think he would ever had made such a sound in his life. He felt vulnerable all of a sudden.

George's eyes snapped back open from where they had been almost closed, brown orbs somehow startling clear for someone who had been on the brink of sleep.

Harry cursed George and his light sleeping ways in his mind though a part of him also waited anxiously at how George was going to react.

"Harry?" came the redhead's voice, tinged with concern and curiosity.

Below his waist, Fred's arm was still doing their sinfully pleasurable caressing. Harry moaned again and buried his face onto George's neck, too humiliated to respond and yet too intoxicated with pleasure to try and stop Fred.

He was starting to wonder if the boy was actually awake and was just teasing him on purpose. He wouldn't put it past Fred. And he was starting to berate himself for even thinking that indulging his curiosity in this matter would end well.

Absently, he felt George shifting a bit and then suddenly Fred's hand was gone. Fred gave a sleepy grumble behind him as his hand was repositioned away from Harry. Meanwhile Harry whimpered, unprepared for the abrupt stop of Fred's ministrations.

Merlin something was wrong with him to keep changing his opinions like that.

 _"Make a decision Potter. You want to be touched or not?"_ he snapped at himself mentally.

A hand at his chin distracted him from his thoughts. He blinked as his face was guided upwards so that George could look him in the eye.

"You alright Harry?"

Harry averted his gaze and gave a shaky nod. He was embarrassed to admit that a big part of him wished that George hadn't stopped Fred. Despite the terror that came with the novelty of his situation, Harry wasn't going to lie. He liked whatever it was that had happened. He liked it a lot.

It was thrilling.

Humiliating and overwhelming, sure. But thrilling too.

Some part of him wondered exactly what Fred would do to him awake if he could already wreak havoc on his senses when asleep.

He blushed.

 _"Shouldn't have thought that,"_ he thought. _"Bad brain. Shouldn't have thought that at all."_

Aware of how George was drinking in all his expressions with a keen eye, Harry buried his head back into the redhead's chest with a groan. His arousal had yet to go away and perhaps it was the fact that George had yet to speak or tease him, but Harry was feeling rather bold.

Ok, fine. He was just feeling desperate which in turn made him recklessly bold.

That burning under his skin had yet to go away and a big part of Harry wanted to be touched again. Quickly. Without interruption.

Now that he was getting a taste of positive touch – romantic at that – he didn't want it to stop so abruptly. Because what if he never got this again?

That pessimistic part of his brain was helpfully pointing out how his life often never had good things lasting for long. So, who was to say this relationship with the twins were going to last for long? Sure, the twins were kind and trustworthy and genuinely cared for him.

But Harry wasn't naïve. He knew break ups existed in the real world. He was aware that this was his first ever romantic relationship with anyone, unusual as it was since it was with _two boys_. It was likely going to face many hurdles due to that oddity in itself. And he knew first relationships were not guaranteed to end in happily ever afters in real life.

A pang shot through his heart at that thought. He couldn't even start to imagine how he would face the twins or the other Weasleys if he and twins broke up in the future.

He shook his head mentally, shaking himself from that train of thought.

 _"No point in worrying over a future that has yet to come to pass,"_ he thought.

What mattered more was the now. And the now involved an awake George and his flushed self who was rather needy for touch.

Somewhere at the back of his mind, Harry knew he was going about this whole thing a bit too irrationally. Perhaps it was not exactly healthy for him either, to not exercise impulse control when this was his first time for such an experience.

Alas, desire was still burning hot in his veins. And logic was not the one steering the reigns in his head.

So desperate as he was, Harry gave into what his heated-up body was urging him to do. He bucked up towards George's hip without control or warning. George's surprised gasp and the way the boy's own body aroused at that action did not help matters for Harry.

Harry looked up to lock gazes with hazel brown orbs.

"Harry," George's voice was coated in surprise. "What –"

"Touch me," Harry cut in, voice breathy and a touch needy. " _Please._ "

George stared in blatant shock at him.

"W- what?"

"T- touch me," he repeated, voice softening as his confidence dwindled at having to repeat the embarrassing request.

Harry stared desperately into George's eyes, hoping the older boy would understand.

"Are you sure?"

Harry nodded, letting out a shaky breath.

"I – I liked it," he confessed, shyly. "When Fred w – was touching me…"

Harry averted his gaze at the teasing lilt that blossomed on George's lips. But George lifted his head up with a finger again.

"But you're terrified too, little one. I can see it in your eyes."

Harry deflated, unable to argue against that. He was terrified in all honesty. But the curiosity in was more overwhelming.

Still, if George didn't want to touch him – _and why exactly did that make him sad? God damn it_ – then he really couldn't do anything about it, could he?

A thumb caressing his cheek diverted his attention back to George.

"We'll take it slow, alright?"

Harry blinked and barely registered the meaning of the words before he found lips pressed against his own. His eyes widened and hope bloomed in his chest.

George pulled him closer and Harry didn't resist. His eyes fluttered close as that heat within him intensified again. He felt something hard poke against his stomach and Harry grinned into the kiss, happy that George returned the want that was coursing through Harry himself.

George shifted, pushing himself over Harry slightly. The pressure against his lips increased and Harry melted even more into George.

If he had to describe it, Harry would say that the kiss was sweet and mild. His heart was racing, yes, and every part of him seemed to be on alert. He was hyper aware of the way George's right arm wrapped around his torso, of the way George's other hand was gently caressing his hair. But he also knew somehow that George was starting slow as promised, just testing the waters.

George pulled back a moment later and Harry sighed in disappointment. He opened his eyes to meet amused hazel eyes.

"Liked that?" George asked, voice teasing.

But there was a touch of seriousness underneath it, Harry noted.

He nodded shyly.

"You taste like chocolate and strawberries," he told the older boy with a small grin.

George smiled.

"And you taste like plums and sugar."

Harry grinned wider at that.

_"Well, I'm glad. It would have been awkward if I had morning breath while you tasted divine."_

Harry stilled when George started to chuckle and groaned miserably.

"I didn't mean to say that out loud," he muttered.

"Don't worry, Harrykins. You're rather adorable when you make a blunder."

Harry gave George a mock scowl. The older teen smiled more at that and pressed his forehead against Harry's.

"So, do you want to taste more of strawberries and chocolate?"

Harry grinned.

"Yes," he replied breathily.

George smirked at his immediate response but obediently pressed his lips against Harry's again.

And this time, the redhead went a little further with their kiss.

Harry felt his heartbeat quicken even more when he felt something soft and wet swipe against his lips. Curious and excited, he parted his mouth, allowing George's probing tongue entry. His hips meanwhile bucked out of instinct against the older boy's. The redhead grinned against his lips and Harry felt heat bloom at his cheeks.

He was distracted however when his tongue met George's.

Harry couldn't have stopped the moan that left his throat even if he had tried.

The sensation was strange, he would admit. Having someone else tongue against his was certainly novel to him. And very much weird. But he would be lying if he said that it was not pleasurable. There was something about the whole thing that just made him feel heady and the heat that was within him threatened to consume his whole being.

A groan left Harry's lips. If he had any clarity left in his mind, Harry would have wished the earth would swallow him whole (and he would have gotten his wish, considering his new connection with nature). But as it was, he didn't have that. So, he rather happily let loose the guttural noises that wished to escape his throat.

George was engaging him in a lax battle for dominance now, pressing and pushing gently against his mouth, teaching him how to tug and push. Harry noted each twist and turn of the strange dance within his mouth obediently, body trembling at the feelings the experience evoked in him. The whole affair was slow. Sensuous. And _glorious_ , in Harry humble, novice opinion.

The heat within him was building up to a fever pitch.

Harry groaned needily and pulled George closer to him.

The redhead responded by cutting their coaching session short so that he could take over Harry's mouth.

Harry hummed appreciatively as George dominated him, not at all bothered by how spectacularly he lost once George stopped holding back. He saw it coming anyway with how inexperienced he was.

As George explored his mouth, Harry ran his hands up the boy's chest, shamelessly feeling the sturdiness of George's chest despite the clothes between them. He grinned at how a shiver ran down George's body at his action though the redhead didn't let him feel smug for long. Harry gasped in shock when George bit down on his tongue gently and sucked on it firmly.

He lost the last bit of restraint in his self.

Harry pulled George towards him with a needy growl, shifting himself to the right and flattening his back against the mattress. George hissed into mouth as he found himself straddling the raven-haired teen, hips rubbing against one another at the action.

"Harry!" George rasped as he pulled away from the teen.

Harry was having none of that. He pulled George back down to him with a groan, brazenly pulling the older boy's tongue into another dance with his own. George entertained him for a few moments, a groan spilling from the older boy's lips despite George's restraint. But he forcefully pulled away much too soon (in Harry's opinion).

Harry whined in response and opened his eyes to glare sullenly at the redhead who had gone on to even clasp both his hands together so that he wouldn't pull George down for a kiss again. He pouted as George levelled back a stern look at him.

"Come now, don't be like that," George told him, voice still breathy and low.

The older teen bent forwards to catch his lower lip between his teeth playfully. Harry inhaled sharply and blushed.

 _"Damn, I've been blushing too many times in one morning,"_ he thought absently.

George released his lip and pressed a chaste kiss against his lips with a sigh.

"We should take things slow, little one."

Harry blinked up at his boyfriend – _wasn't that a wonderful word,_ he thought – and tilted his head.

"This isn't slow?" he asked with faux innocence.

George rolled his eyes, a fond smile on his lips and a knowing look in his eyes. Harry stared back sweetly at the teen, unabashed at being caught. He knew – sort of – that they had taken things a bit faster than the "slow" George had been aiming for. But he didn't really regret it.

He enjoyed it way too much to regret it. In fact, Harry was starting to wonder why he had been so hesitant at the beginning at all.

(Let it be known that the rationale side of Harry's brain has long been buried away by now. It is screaming to be let out but – um – Harry is rather preoccupied to notice it or it's well-meaning warnings…)

"No Harry. We're still at first base sure, but you're letting your excitement get the better of you, love."

Harry blinked, the meaning behind George's words escaping him. He vaguely remembered Dean mentioning something like first base last year. But he had been a bit preoccupied with surviving the next task of the Tournament to listen properly.

Considering all the context, Harry supposed that the phrase was some form of euphemism. Using the baseball sport. He wondered how _that_ had caught on in the wizarding world of all places though. Wizards generally tended to have no knowledge of many muggle sports. Must have the been the influence of the muggleborns.

"But I like it," Harry told George matter-of-factly, retuning his attention to his boyfriend.

His redheaded, freckle-faced, _gorgeous_ boyfriend. Whom he wished would just continue kissing him in all honesty. Because talking was cooling Harry down and he didn't want to cool down. He wanted that hotness in his veins to continue for while longer, encompassing him in this new, heady haze that he rather enjoyed experiencing with George close to him.

George smirked down at him.

"Oh, I think I understood that very clearly little one," George replied back huskily, moving his hips pointedly.

Harry mewled at the sinful heat that pulsed beneath his waist. It had lessened (unfortunately) but it was still there (thankfully).

"George," he whispered pleadingly. "Just kiss me again please."

George grinned at him but didn't move.

"I'm afraid I cannot, little one."

"Why not?" Harry asked, confused.

George didn't get the opportunity to reply to him.

"That would be because _I_ would hex him to next week and back if he kisses you _again_ , _love_."

Harry whipped his head to his left to meet Fred's serious amber-green eyes.

"F-Fred," he stuttered out. "Um – good morning?"

Amusement shone brightly in the younger twin's eyes at Harry's embarrassed greeting.

"Oh, it is a good morning indeed, Harrykins," Fred replied with a teasing smile. "I mean while I don't like it that Georgie here has become your first kiss, I'm not going to lie. Watching you flustering and floundering was a rather _pleasurable_ sight."

Harry blushed crimson at that and noted belatedly that there was a noticeable tent near Fred's waistline. With an embarrassed whine he covered his face.

Above him George laughed.

Harry glared at the redhead from behind his fingers. George, unfortunately, was not the least bit intimidated.

"You know brother dearest, this is honestly your fault," George told Fred with a smirk as he casually lowered himself to lay on top of Harry.

But the redhead took some care to tilt his weight to his left shoulder so as to not suffocate Harry underneath him. Harry meanwhile, turned his head away to face Fred, uncertain if he could keep himself from closing the distance between him and George if he kept staring up at the older boy's lips.

Those red, soft, wicked lips.

 _"When did I get this horny?"_ Harry thought to himself.

Fred raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" he drawled. "Do enlighten me then brother. Whatever did I do to encourage you to steal little Harrikin's first kiss?"

Harry blinked. He had never thought he would see Fred level a glare at George that contained actual anger. Granted it wasn't very intense but still. He'd never seen any real friction between the two before, no matter how mild. A small worry lodged itself in Harry's heart. But he was distracted from it when George replied to Fred's question.

"Well, the answer to that would be that you fondled the poor boy in your sleep, Freddie."

Fred blinked.

Harry closed his eyes in embarrassment.

"George!" he hissed in betrayal.

Fred did not need to know that. No. Not at all.

"I did what now?" Fred asked.

Harry opened his eyes to see the younger twin still blinking in confusion.

"Fondled him while you slept, Freddie," George repeated cheerfully. "As in caressed the boy's morning wood in your sleep. Poor Harry was very much hot and bothered."

" _George!_ " Harry growled angrily.

Harry was certain that he had blushed enough to last a lifetime. If this kept on, he would only burst in flames from all the embarrassment. He had no more room for blood to pump up to his face.

Damn these Weasley twins. Why did they have to be his crushes? His bloody boyfriends? He was going to combust at their antics and attention before he even reached his majority.

Fred meanwhile blinked again before a smirk blossomed on his lips. Harry mentally groaned. He was going to die of embarrassment for whatever that came next, he was sure.

"Alright then, shove off Georgie."

Harry watched silently as Fred shifted closer to him and George. George meanwhile pouted at his twin.

"But I don't want to."

Fred gave his twin a deadpan stare and promptly pushed him off Harry. George rolled away with a laugh while Harry watched the whole scene with some concern.

"Gee, no need to get possessive, Freddie. There's plenty of Harry to go around."

"Yeah, _no._ That ended when you took too much of Harry for the past fifteen minutes or more," Fred replied, miffed.

Harry covered his face with an exasperated sigh.

"I'm not some piece of meat you guys," he mumbled out loud.

The feeling the mattress dipping on either side of his head made him pause and he gingerly lowered his hands to meet the sight of brown orbs with amber-green flecks staring at him heatedly. Fred, Harry realised, was very much doing a plank over his body.

Harry swallowed.

"If you ever see yourself from our perspective, _love_ ," Fred told him with a hungry look in his eyes, "You'll reconsider those words."

Then the redhead straddled his hips and smashed his lips to Harry's.

Harry gasped, taken aback by the swiftness with which Fred claim the first kiss between them. Fred shameless took the opportunity his shock presented to enter his tongue into Harry's mouth, pushing against Harry's own tongue without hesitation. Harry's eyes rolled back as his eyes shut themselves in pleasure.

Kissing Fred was completely different from George. Harry thought that it was likely because, unlike George, Fred wasn't keeping the kiss at a slow and steady pace. Rather the teen kissed him with some form of urgency, swallowing up the moans and whimpers he elicited from Harry with fervour. Fred didn't wait to let Harry take in the intimate movements between their tongues like George. No, Fred mercilessly devoured and dominated him instead, exploring his mouth with brazen passion.

Harry absently thought that it was a good thing they were on the bed. He was feeling so very lightheaded that if the twins had kissed him while he was standing, he would have collapsed to the floor by now. The heat under his skin, which had been dampened during the conversation Fred and George had, returned with vengeance.

Fred then rolled his hips without warning. Harry groaned in pleasure, arms shooting up to circle around the redhead's neck. He tangled his fingers in Fred's head and pulled him down more towards him, caught up in the racy pace that Fred had been setting. Hot fiery desire sung though his veins and logic abandoned him again. ( _Who needed rationality anyways?_ )

Harry tugged at Fred's hair and bucked his hips upwards, doing actions more out of instinct that anything else. Fred's responding grunts only served to embolden him. He moaned into the younger twin's mouth when Fred rolled his hips again.

 _"I was right after all,"_ Harry thought. _"Fred can do much worse to me when he is awake."_

Harry grinned into their heated kiss. He rather liked Fred awake, he decided.

It was only when Harry thought he was actually going to faint from the lack of air that Fred pulled away from him. Harry took in a shuddering breath.

Unfortunately (read: fortunately in Harry's opinion) Fred was not done with his ministrations.

Harry almost forgot to breathe, wasting his previous efforts of gulping in air, when the teen straddling him started to trail wet kisses on his neck, pulling down the collars of his pyjamas while doing so. Heart racing at the new sensations this change in activity was bringing him, Harry tilted his head to the right, allowing Fred to have a better angle. The effort resulted in Fred very much finding his sweet spot quickly.

Very, very quickly.

 _"Fred!_ " Harry gasped out, eyes shooting open when Fred's tongue brushed across that sensitive, sweet patch of skin near his neck and shoulder.

For a brief moment, everyone, including Harry, stilled at his outcry, surprised perhaps that he had moaned out an actual, coherent word than incomprehensible noises. Then he felt Fred smirk into his neck. Harry's heart thundered at that – it was never good when one of the Weasley twins smirked, did he mention that? – and the flush on his cheeks worsened.

It did not help him at all that one George Weasley was staring straight into his eyes with a look that screamed he was hungry.

That comment on 'I'm not a piece of meat' decided to re-enter Harry's mind.

 _"Bad timing brain,"_ Harry thought weakly.

All his thoughts however came to an abrupt stop when he felt a sharp sting on his neck. Harry hissed more out of surprise that Fred had bitten – _actually bitten, for god's sake_ – him than due to the pricking, used as he was to dealing with more intense pain than a bite. He relaxed however when Fred returned to suck that spot gently, tongue providing a soothing, wet pressure. Harry wasn't sure what to think when the whole affair actually made him more turned on.

 _"Who the hell bites people like that?"_ he thought, even as his eyes fluttered in pleasure at Fred's actions. _"And why the hell do I like it so much?"_

Fred sucked on that same spot he bit again and Harry got the obvious answer. Pleasure travelled down his spine, sending shivers down his body that all ended right at his groin. His vision blurred under the hazy heat overwhelming him.

Harry thought he could get used to Fred and George's touches if this was the feelings that got him.

Something moist registered on his senses out of the blue, distracting him. Harry stilled slightly. Fred chose the time to adjust himself, creating friction against both their hips again.

Harry's eyes flew open in realisation and he shot up from the bed with a squeak.

"Whoa –"

Fred swayed backwards, not expecting Harry's sudden rising. George reached out to steady his twin automatically. Then the twins stared at Harry in concern.

Harry meanwhile forgot about the twins momentarily.

He was rather preoccupied with the wetness between his legs. Wetness that he knew only came after a long time of fantasising alone in his dorm bed. A long, long time.

Harry blinked, finally registering his body's state. The tightness in his pants, the growing dampness between his legs, that heat that was pooled up in his abdomen, tempting him to loosen up.

 _"Merlin. I- I've never gotten here this fast before,"_ he thought to himself, surprised yet not.

That logical part of his brain had finally resurfaced and was helpfully connecting him to his common sense again.

 _"If we kept this up, would I have gone through an orgasm too?"_ Harry wondered.

(His inner rationality, if it had a face, would have gave him a deadpan stare by now.)

Harry paled slightly. Is that where this would have led? An actual orgasm?

Suddenly, the nervousness that he had experienced at the start reared its ugly head with vengeance.

Goodness he liked what he had been doing with the twins but he wasn't ready at all for them to see him have a bloody orgasm. From just kissing them at that.

He didn't know _that_ was possible. How the hell did just kissing get him close to an orgasm?

Harry bit his lip, suddenly realising how idiotic he had been. He knew nothing about such matters and he had gone ahead and indulged himself in his curiosity and excitement. For Merlin's sake George had warned him to take it slower and he hadn't heeded the boy's advice.

 _"And now I'm being a chicken,"_ he thought miserably.

What would the twins think of him to be suddenly getting cold feet just because he found himself getting too hard and excited?

Wait the twins –

Harry looked up to see Fred and George staring at him worriedly. He cursed himself.

"Sorry," he muttered with an awkward smile, unsure how to explain himself.

Damn, he had cut them short in the middle of a passionate snog. What kind of a boyfriend was he?

"Harry? Are you –" Fred started.

" – alright?" George finished.

Both Fred and George reached out a hand each towards him.

Harry shifted back, embarrassed, averting his eyes from the both of the twins. He missed the hurt that flashed through their faces, too wrapped in his conflicting thoughts.

"I – uh, need to go," he muttered to them absently, making to move off the bed.

A hand at his wrist stopped him.

"Harry if we did something against your –"

"No," he interrupted Fred. "Not at all. You guys were great! I just uh – I need to just go and – Sirius!" Harry exclaimed suddenly, "Yes Sirius would help me –"

He shrugged his hand away from Fred's grasp absently. But George latched onto him instead.

"What help? What happened? We can help you too, Harry."

Harry blinked at George's words, then turned red.

"Yeah, no. I think I'll be better off with Sirius for what I need right now," he muttered. "You guys can't help –"

"Don't lie to us little one. You are obviously bothered by something that we did," George said sternly.

"Tell us what that you didn't like. We'll make sure not to make you uncomfortable again – "

"It's not you two, really!" Harry cut in, interrupting Fred again. " _Honest_. I just need to go find Sirius and um – talk. Yes. Talk is what I need," Harry finished off absently.

He tried to pull away from George's grasp.

"Let me go, George."

"No," George replied.

"Not until you tell us what we did wrong," Fred added on.

Harry stared at the twins' stubborn faces and sighed.

"Well then you leave me no choice."

* * *

**Back to the present:**

Sirius stifled a grin.

"What?" Harry snapped.

"So, you're telling me, you left the twins tied up by vines when you bolted in a panic that was induced by realising you had precum leaking from your di–"

"Can you not be so crude, Siri?" Harry cut in with a cringe, putting down the teacup he had been meaning to take a sip from.

Sirius rolled his eyes.

"It's nothing to be embarrassed or shy about, Harry. It's part of your anatomy and the whole process you experienced is natural. Especially when doing activities like _kissing_ and _petting_."

Sirius grimaced at the last bit, hating that his godson had been doing said activities less than an hour before. He didn't care what Harry said, he was still too young to be doing all that in Sirius' mind.

Harry sighed.

"I know that."

Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"I don't think so, pup. You wouldn't be here if you knew that."

Harry sighed again.

"Fine, I didn't know that."

Sirius tilted his head at his godson.

"Tell me pup, exactly what had you running here? From what you've been saying, you don't hate what you did with the twins. You enjoyed it even. And from what you've said, experiencing an orgasm isn't something entirely new to you."

Sirius leaned forward.

"So, what exactly scared you off?"

Harry bit his lip.

"I suppose it was just how far it went in the end," he confessed. "As in – I didn't think I'd actually get to a point where I would have almost had an orgasm. From just kissing."

Harry gave Sirius a confused frown.

"Back in the dorms, it took way longer to even get myself," Harry licked his lips, finding this whole talk awkward, "wet? If that is the term…"

Sirius shot the raven-haired teen an amused look.

"Yes, that is an appropriate way to describe things," he told the teen with a small grin.

Harry rolled his eyes.

"Stop laughing at me, Siri," he muttered.

"I'm sorry pup," Sirius chuckled. "But you're so adorable, getting so embarrassed about just talking about this whole matter."

Sirius barked out a laugh.

"I can't actually imagine that you've been making out with the twins just an hour ago at this rate."

Harry scowled.

"Well don't imagine. I don't want you to even try and picture that. It'd be weird, with you being my godfather and all…"

Sirius laughed harder at that for some reason, though at the back of his mind he reminded himself that he needed to have a serious conversation with two redheads that were born on April 1st, like the fools they were.

"Are you done already?" Harry asked him with an unimpressed expression.

Sirius controlled himself.

"Right," he started. "To enlighten you, pup, yes, you can get to an orgasm with just kissing. Especially when said kissing also involved some serious grinding from what you were recounting."

Harry averted his eyes as pink dusted his cheek.

"And as for why you got there so fast, it's probably due to all that stimulation you got from the twins' presence and touch. I reckon, considering your innocence and pretty much lack of experience," Sirius smirked at the way Harry turned red again, "Your wanking materials aren't that great. Most of what you do is imagine, pup. And that can only get you so far when you don't even know what exactly to imagine."

Harry didn't say anything. He didn't really have anything to add.

"Plus, this was your first time, pup. I'm not surprised you didn't last long. Or almost didn't last long, considering you didn't finish up what you started," Sirius ended off in a mutter.

The man yelped when a pillow smacked him in the face.

"What was that for?" he cried out.

Harry shrugged.

"Felt like it."

Sirius gaped.

"Pup I'm your godfather. Show me some respect – eek."

Sirius dogged the second pillow that flew his way.

"Never mind," he muttered.

Harry smirked. Sirius gave a mock scowl.

"So, any more queries, pup?"

Harry bit his lip.

"What is it?" Sirius asked gently.

"About this whole relationship, Sirius –" Harry looked up at him worriedly. "Do you think – do you think the twins and I will last for the long game?"

Sirius' eyes softened at the vulnerability in his godson's eyes.

"I mean, realistically speaking, I know we may not. But I'd rather we do and well, I'm maybe a bit terrified that I'll botch it up or that – Merlin I'm sounding so much like the whiny females from Petunia's romance novels by the minute!"

Sirius barked out a laugh at that.

"Oh Harry," he mumbled.

Emerald eyes gave him a sheepish look.

"I can't tell you for certain, if you and the twins will last all the way, pup," he told the teen gently. "But from what I know, all three of you are decent people. I'm sure that if there ever comes a time that you find yourselves unhappy in your relationship, you'll let each other down gently. And I'm sure that while it will hurt, you guys will also learn to move on and live on."

Sirius reached over to ruffle his godson's hair.

"But don't worry about such a time that hasn't even come to pass pup – if it will even come that is. Focus on the now, Harry. Right now, you have two bloody good-looking and caring boyfriends. Your first ever relationship. And you're lucky enough that it's with people you actually trust. So, enjoy it. Learn to strengthen this bond you've created with the twins. And just be happy."

Harry gave a small grin.

"That was such a cringey speech but it helped, so thanks."

Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Are you really ok with me dating the twins?" Harry asked curiously.

Sirius shook his head vehemently.

"No. Not one bit. I think you should only date once you've reached your hundreds, pup. It's the only age I think is good."

Sirius ignored the deadpan stare Harry shot at him for that.

"Seriously. Lovers are disgusting. Don't do it. Just say the word even now and I'll get rid of those twins for ya –" Sirius paused as a vine dangled menacingly at him from behind Harry. "I mean, if you want to, there's nothing wrong with dating the twins at this age. I suppose those two are not bad for boyfriend materials if I have to let you date someone…"

Harry smirked.

"Well, I'm glad I have your blessings, Siri," the teen told him cheerfully.

Sirius grumbled indistinguishable matters under his breath.

"You know –"

Sirius looked up as Harry started to speak, voice no longer retaining the jokey tone from before.

" – I'm kinda surprised you didn't throw a fit at the fact that I bat for the same team. Or that I'm seriously interested in _two_ boys at the same time."

Sirius blinked as Harry looked up at him with a frown.

"Why is that Siri?"

Sirius was slightly puzzled at Harry not knowing the answer to such a simple thing. But he remembered that his poor godson had grown up in the muggle world for most of his life.

 _"Stupid Dursleys_ ," he thought bitterly. _"I'm killing them as soon as I find a way to do so without getting caught."_

Inhaling softly, Sirius focussed his attention back onto his godson.

 _"Now how to reveal this news gently?"_ he thought. _"This news that is very much going to rock poor Harry's muggle-raised perceptions of the world?"_

Sirius gave a wicked grin. Harry, who had been keenly watching him, he realised, leaned backwards in his chair warily. Sirius' grin widened.

"Um Siri?" Harry probed gently. "You alright?"

Sirius smiled more.

"Pup dearest, are you aware of the fact that in the wizarding world, gay couples can knock each other up?"

Harry's jaw dropped in shock and Sirius cackled at the sight. It was the most hilarious thing he had seen in his entire life, in his opinion.

 _"I'm keeping this memory preserved in my family faults,"_ Sirius vowed to himself silently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ya know the drill, folks.  
> Comment and Kudos if ya liked the chapter. And honestly, thanks for sticking around still, despite my slow updates hahhaaaa  
> You guys are the best!


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